


Sleeping Through a Rogue Winter Storm

by Pogokitten



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad & Spiderson, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker Can't Thermoregulate, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sickfic, Sleepy Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, but like not ooc amounts of bashing, i changed my mind, i don't know her, not team Cap friendly, this is very self indulgent ngl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26417131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pogokitten/pseuds/Pogokitten
Summary: In the months following the Homecoming Incident Tony took to properly mentoring Peter, and all too soon the spider kid and his aunt had wormed their way into Tony's life and family. After the betrayal of his old team, the engineer guards what's left of his makeshift family closely. As such, Tony didn't want Peter anywhere near the compound after the Rogue Avengers were pardoned and coming back to discuss signing new accords with Ross out of the picture.That plan hit the fan when a few days before Capitan America and his team where supposed to come back, Peter gets stuck out in the cold and goes into hibernation. Now Tony needs to keep Peter at the compound while a cure is found and keep the kid hidden from his old teammates he no longer trusts.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Friday & Peter Parker, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 299
Kudos: 1031





	1. A Sleepy Spider

**Author's Note:**

> Do I always come into fandoms years late? Yes. Will that ever stop me? No. This is probably the most self-indulgent thing I’ve ever written. This is my first fic for this fandom, and so I used a lot of my favorite tropes. I'm going with my own interpretations of some of the characters, such as Tony is p soft in this fic with his family. Him and Peter growing closer and Pepper making him see a therapist has let him be more open with the people he cares for. 
> 
> I’m disregarding infinity war entirely for this fic and Bruce Banner is back much earlier from space and has all the PhDs because I love him and I said so. Also Ross is in the RAFT as a prisoner and not a part of the accords anymore cuz honestly I'm an X-Men lover and fuck Thaddeus Ross in any universe. 
> 
> This story is partially inspired by works from both Losingmymindtonight and Bean_reads_fanfic

The trouble starts when some panty-hosed headed mugger pulls a knife on Peter while he’s helping up the old lady the guy was trying to mug. To be fair, he probably should have actually made sure the would-be-mugger was down and out, but he saw the old lady fall and she went down hard. His spidey-sense goes off when the man takes a swipe at his exposed back, allowing Peter to doge the worst of it thankfully. 

“Dude!” he exclaims as he feels the suit tear slightly under what must be one sharp freaking knife, “Sneak attacks are rude!” 

He can feel a very shallow cut across his back and catches red warnings on his heads up display, but he’s too distracted with the still up and about mugger to take any real note of either. Before the Panty-Hose Bandit can make another swipe, Peter hits the guy with his webs, yanking the knife from his hand and attaching him to the far alley wall. Really, Peter doesn’t even notice anything is wrong until he’s three rooftops over after letting the cops know and seeing the old lady off (she gave him a cherry lollipop).

“Peter, that last attack damaged some systems in the suit, including some of my diagnostic tools, the parachute, and your heater among others.” Karen tells him now that the action is passed. 

“Aw crap,” he mutters, finally taking a proper look at the HUD warnings, and yup his suit (that he just upgraded with Mr. Stark) is already in need of repair. 

Honestly it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal, he was supposed to go over to the tower tomorrow anyway. The problem is, even though it’s early in the evening and far from the promised lowest temperature of the day, that doesn’t mean much in December in fucking NYC. Which means it’s _really_ _cold and there’s snow everywhere_. And now that the adrenaline from the fight has worn off Peter can totally tell his heater is broken. 

That would be bad enough being out in this weather in a glorified spandex suit if he was a normal person. But it’s worse because he can’t regulate his own temperature for shit after the spider bite. So the fact that his heater is out on a freezing day in winter is really not good. Last year he got lucky, the fall and winter seasons were unusually mild. He was lethargic from October clear through to February and he patrolled less (especially since he was in his homemade suit then), but he was never out in dangerously cold weather. 

Like he is right now. 

Part of Peter just wants to try and swing home, but May and Mr. Stark keep going on about calling for help when he needs it, and well…this seems like an appropriate time to call for help. Especially since he can already feel his extremities going numb. The cold really is bitter and the wind is cutting, swirling past with snow flurries. Desperate to get some sort of warmth back into his limbs, Peter starts swinging for Stark Tower. 

Although most of the Avengers business has been moved upstate, Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts chose to keep the tower as the New York headquarters for Stark Industries. The tower is basically a second home to Peter at this point between his now-mostly-legit internship and patrols as Spider-Man gone wrong. He even has his own room at the penthouse where he stays overnight most weekends and some weeknights if May works the night shift at the hospital. 

“Karen, is Mr. Stark at the office today or is he upstate?” he asks his AI.

“Mr. Stark is currently at the tower,” she responds. 

“I’m gonna try to swing to the tower then, if my temp falls too far, I’ll call him,” he tells the AI. That’s reasonable right? This isn’t necessarily life or death, and he’s just trying to be more considerate to his mentor by at least meeting him halfway. He knows Mr. Stark is a busy guy after all, and Peter doesn’t like to worry him if he can help it. 

“Alright Peter, I’m plotting the quickest route to Stark Industries,” Karen tells him, and the route pops up on his HUD. 

“Thanks, K.”

If he’s fast maybe he can make it to the tower and warm up without Mr. Stark even knowing he’s there, seeing as the man is probably holed up in his lab or in meetings. But a little voice in the back of his head that has been whispering about Parker Luck since he found out the heater was toast is saying otherwise. 

At first he thinks it’ll be fine, and his plan will work just fine, but ten minutes into his swinging and he can already feel his overworked muscles aching from the cold and growing lethargic. He tries to go even faster, but it’s not a good idea with his cold clumsy limbs and he almost miscalculates a few swings. Even his thoughts feel like they’re going numb and clumsy. 

Karen’s voice startles him slightly, he nearly forgot she was there. “Peter, your body temperature is starting to fall below acceptable parameters, I recommend finding immediate shelter from the cold or contacting help.” 

“Th-thanks Karen, I noticed,” He’s trying not to be testy, but the cold is absolutely _horrible_ and his suit on its own does diddly squat to keep it out. 

A few swings later and he has to stop on the roof of an old apartment building. The cold is settling in his bones, making his joints stiff as it cuts deep into his muscles. He can’t feel his toes or fingers and he’s shivering uselessly. Unable to generate enough of his own warmth, the action is pointless but involuntary. 

“Peter, your temperature is becoming dangerously low. I do not think we will be able to make it to the tower,” Karen says, sounding concerned.

“C-Call M-Mr. Star-Stark,” Peter manages to stutter out as he curls into a ball on the rooftop in a feeble attempt to keep in warmth he doesn’t have. 

He hopes Mr. Stark won’t be too mad at him. 

***

Tony is just taking a load off after spending the last two hours in R&D working on debugging the newest Starkpad OS when his phone starts ringing. The tune of the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” let’s him know right away it’s the kid. Peter absolutely hates the ringtone, but it always gets a laugh out of Tony and Rhodey. He knows the kid is out Spider-Manning at this hour, but sometimes Peter just calls to tell Tony interesting or funny things that happen while he’s out in the suit. 

“Hey kid,” he greets as he picks up, “How’s patrol going? Save any cats yet?” 

A breathless stutter answers him. “H-Hey M-Mr. S’ark.”

Instantly Tony’s stomach curls with dread. “Peter, what’s wrong?”

“N-Need...some help.”

“Gotta give me more to go on than that, Pete.” Tony tries to quip, sprinting for the elevator, already sending for a suit to meet him at the launch pad. 

“S’ cold… n’ sleepy,” Peter mumbles, not at all helpful, and sounding less coherent by the second. 

Before Tony can full on panic, with thoughts of blood loss and shock and _why didn’t the suit alert him_ , FRIDAY interrupts the call. “Boss, Karen just sent out a distress signal from the spider suit. Peter’s vitals are starting to fall below baseline.” 

“Get her report, I want to know what I’m dealing with,” he orders before going back to the kid’s call, “Hey Pete, I need you to stay awake and on the line with me, I’m coming to get you.”

He gets an affirmative grunt in return, which is not encouraging. 

FRIDAY cuts back in. “Karen doesn’t know for sure, she is reporting that the suit is damaged and that some of her diagnostic tools are offline along with the suit’s heater and parachute. According to her, Peter is not wounded severely but his core temperature has fallen significantly since the damage to the suit.”

Tony curses colorfully. “He can’t thermoregulate.” 

And it’s the coldest day of the year so far.

“Karen also says that Peter knew the suit was in need of repair and was on his way to the tower. He decided to call when he realized he would be unable to make it on his own,” his AI tells him.

“At least he finally got it through his stubborn teenage skull that he can ask for help, but maybe next time he should just do it the moment there’s a problem instead of trying to tough it out till the last moment,” Tony mutters as the elevator opens and then he’s jogging for the launchpad while the suit starts to form around him. 

“This is still a significant improvement for Peter, Boss,” FRIDAY defends. 

God he wishes she were wrong, but it’s the truth. 

“Alright kid, I’m already on my way so just hold on okay?” Tony says, blasting off and switching back to Peter’s line. 

He gets a quiet hum in return. 

“Don’t you dare fall asleep Parker! You’ll be on DUM-E duty in the lab for weeks if you do! Nothing but handing me tools, I mean it!” the engineer threatens.

A whine answers him. 

“That’s what I thought. No sleeping, Spider-Baby.” 

“Tired,” the spiderling mumbles. 

“I know, but you need to stay awake.”

The city flies by beneath him, Peter’s suit a red dot on the map on Tony’s HUD. Thankfully he’s only a handful of minutes away, clearly he had been on his way to the tower seeing as he’s not even in Queens anymore. 

“‘S not true. C-can sleep w-with...head s-stuff,” the kid slurs. 

Tony blanches at Peter’s confusion. “This isn’t a concussion Peter. You can’t fall asleep in the cold.”

“S’ cold?”

“Yeah kid, it’s really cold out,” Tony tells him lightly while the medical knowledge in the back of his mind reminds him that no longer feeling the cold is a very bad sign. 

“Don’ feel it,” Peter muses. 

“Yeah, that’s not a good thing, Pete.”

A sleepy hum crackles over the line. 

“I’m almost there, kiddo.”

There’s silence on the other end. 

“Peter?” he asks a bit louder. 

Nothing. 

Before he can lose it, a lump of red and blue comes into sight on a rooftop and Tony lands with a clank of metal and kneels next to the unmoving form. The kid is curled up tightly in a fetal position, the eyes on his mask shut. Tony’s faceplate lifts and he reaches for his kid with slightly shaking hands. 

“Pete! Come on, kid!” he pleads as he rips the mask off the teenager. 

The kid’s lips are going blue and his skin is sheet white, which sends a new jolt of fear through the engineer. Tony maneuvers the boy onto his back, looking for injuries and thankfully finding nothing but a shallow cut across his shoulder blades that’s already healing. He can see where the knife or whatever it was severed through some of the suit’s inner wires, and is already thinking of how he can make sure the wiring is more protected. 

But first, and more importantly, he has to fix the kid. 

“Seriously kid, wake up!” the engineer urges, squeezing the spiderling’s shoulder. 

Peter mumbles something unintelligible, his eyes opening only a crack and completely unfocused, but Tony feels a brief bit of relief. 

“There you are kid, come on, open those eyes all the way for me.” 

The spider kid’s lashes flutter like he’s trying to do what his mentor asked, but he loses the battle when his eyes slide shut and his muscles slump with obvious unconsciousness. 

“FRIDAY give me vitals!” Tony demands, desperately staving off a panic attack. Later. He can have a breakdown later when Peter is recovering from whatever the hell extreme hypothermia this is in the medbay. 

“Peter’s core temperature is 94.6 degrees and falling. His respiratory rate, pulse, and metabolic rate have slowed significantly from his baseline stats, Boss,” FRIDAY reports, and the kid’s stats pop up on the side of his HUD. It doesn't look good. 

“Shit, he’s been out in the cold way too long with his spider DNA,” the engineer mutters as he gingerly picks the frozen spiderling up in a bridal carry, “Is it hypothermia?” 

“No, Boss,” FRIDAY says, and she sounds a bit perplexed, “His vitals and symptoms don’t entirely match someone who’s hypothermic. According to my scans, Peter’s biochemistry is showing similarities to that of an animal entering a diapause or hibernation state, resulting in his altered state of consciousness.”

Tony damn near drops the Spider-Baby. “What?! No, look again there’s no way-” 

“Some species of spiders go through diapause or hibernate during cold seasons, and Peter has already proven to have difficulties with thermoregulation. Therefore it’s a logical assumption that his mutated DNA and the extreme cold weather is causing this change in his biochemistry.” FRIDAY explains. 

“But he’s a human FRI, and humans don’t- _can’t_ hibernate. I know I call him a spiderling but this…”

“Peter is a mutate, Boss,” his AI reminds him, “His physiology is unique. As unusual as it is, going off the data I have indicates that he’s entering a hibernation state.”

Still reeling, Tony manages to ask, “Is he in any immediate danger?”

“I would recommend not letting his core temperature drop much more, but his vitals, while slow, indicate that he is not in immediate danger,” FRIDAY tells him. 

“Shit, alright, can you adjust the inner cooling system? Let the outside of the suit radiate some heat, I’m taking him back to the tower. Get Bruce on the line.” Tony says while he jams the mask back over Peter’s face for the flight. He can freak out properly about his kid _fucking hibernating_ later. 

“On it Boss.”

They’re already flying high over the darkened city, Peter clutched to his chest, which is tight with barely controlled panic, when Bruce picks up the video call. 

“Tony, what’s up?” the scientist asks. He’s in his lab at the compound, obviously engrossed in something with the disarray of papers on his desk and the fact that he doesn’t look up at the video screen.

“Oh nothing, Jolly Green, just that Peter went out on patrol on the coldest day of the year and got so cold that his body is trying to fucking hibernate. And now I’m flying an unconscious spiderling back to the tower with no idea of what I’m doing. Really just a totally normal day in my life,” Tony shoots for sarcasm, but his voice shakes a bit too much to really pull it off. 

That gets Bruce to snap his head up. “Whoa, slow down Tony. Did you just say that Peter is going into hibernation?” 

“Yes. Can we stop saying that word right now? I’m not really partial to it at the moment, and it will probably be some sort of tigger after this,” the engineer rambles. 

Bruce looks stunned for a moment before he shakes himself out of his stupor and puts on his professional voice. “We can figure it out Tony. I’ll get Helen down to the lab and we can tackle it together. For now take him to the medbay and we can get a better idea of what we’re dealing with.” 

The next few minutes are full of an anxious silence while Bruce looks over Peter’s vitals and biochemistry report that FRIDAY sent him and Tony struggles with his panic. When he lands at the tower, Tony doesn’t bother to take the suit off as he rushes the kid to the medbay. The place has a skeleton staff after the move to the compound, but Tony kept a few nurses and a doctor around for moments like this. 

The nurse manning the front desk looks up at his approach in concern. They’ve all met and treated the kid at one point or another, which of course means they’re all fond of the little trouble maker. Said nurse gets up to assist, but Tony waves her off. The kid’s seemingly not critical or anything and he can take care of it himself. 

He _needs_ to take care of it. 

“Okay, I’m in the medbay, what do I do?” Tony asks when he finds an empty room, looking down at the unmoving kid in his arms.

“Right now I want you to get him warm. Get him out of any cold or wet clothes and dried, then get some heating pads and blankets.” Bruce says.

Tony gently lays the kid down onto the bed, watching as the biometrics sensors in the mattress come to life, projecting Peter’s steady, if very slow, vitals up on the nearby monitor. He peels the kid’s mask off and it’s worse because he looks small and even paler under the bright lights, almost like a corpse. The engineer shakes the thoughts off and transfers his video call to the holographic screen in the medbay as he steps out of the suit and sends it away. 

“Will warming him up wake him up?” Tony asks as he strips Peter out of the spider suit and tosses it aside without care. 

“No probably not, hibernation doesn't work like that, it’s all hormones and brain chemistry, although if it’s daipuase...but Peter is still mostly a mammal...” the scientist muses then shakes his head, “Either way, he’s still mostly human and being cold isn’t doing him any favors.”

He lets Bruce talk him through what to do, finding the heating pads, where to place them on Peter to help circulate warm blood, and how many blankets is overkill. 

“You’re doing great, Tony,” Bruce encourages, and Tony bites back a snapping retort.

He knows the irritation is just anxiety and a fear of being vulnerable, and he doesn’t want to spit misdirected anger at his friend. Pepper would be proud of him, the therapist she convinced him to start seeing seems to be paying off here and there. 

“Alright, I can see his temp’s a bit higher now, that’s good. I want to try and keep him near his usual core temperature. Now, can you get someone to place an IV? We’ll get some blood from it and I think he’ll need one sooner rather than later anyway,” Bruce says. 

“I can do it. I- Rhodey taught me how,” Tony manages, his shoulders still tight with tension. 

It’s not that he doesn’t trust the nurses, (they’ve saved the kids life more than once) but he needs to fix this. Tony’s a mechanic, he fixes what he can. And if he’s helping Peter himself, he can’t freak out about this whole situation yet. And Peter is his responsibility anyway. It has nothing to do with his paranoid overprotective streak that he has for his family, nope. 

Thankfully his hands have stopped shaking from anxiety by the time he’s collected everything he needs to start a line. He ties the tourniquet, finds a vein in the crook of Peter’s arm, cleans the area, slides the needle home, and then removes the sharp after he’s sure the IV is good. Tony probably uses more tape then necessary securing the plastic catheter, but Bruce smartly doesn’t comment. 

Peter’s eye lids don’t so much as twitch during the process, which makes the rock in Tony’s stomach harden, since the kid despises needles, even as briefly as that one was in his arm.

Ignoring the renewed trembling of his left hand, Tony gets three syringes full of blood out of the IV, transfers them to vials and holds them up for Bruce to see on the holoscreen. 

The scientist nods in approval. “Get FRIDAY on analyzing it and have her send us the data. I think our best bet is to try and create a synthetic version of the hormones that wake animals when their biological clocks tell them spring is coming. We’ve got to match it to Peter’s physiology of course, but the concept is the same.” 

As Bruce looks away to scribble some notes, Tony turns his attention to Peter’s vitals being projected onto the screen next to the bed. Everything is still stable, and slow, but something about just watching the steadily fluctuating lines helps settle some of the engineer’s anxiety. Aside from being ghost pale, the kid looks like he’s slumbering peacefully at least.

“He’s warming up some,” Tony observes, the kid’s temp having moved up to 94.9. Usually he runs a little cool around 97.5, but it’s still progress. 

“His temp’s still low, you can put him on warm saline and see if that helps, just one unit for now and we can check back on it,” Bruce tells him. 

“So how long is it gonna take to make this hormonal cure?” Tony asks a minute or so later after finding some warm saline bags to hook the kid up to. 

“It could take a while to synthesize, Tony,” Bruce sighs, running a hand through his hair, “Between Helen and I, I’d say we have enough biomedical knowledge but neither of us are experts on animal hibernation, and honestly this is unexplored territory in general.”

“Best estimate on how long?”

“A week. Maybe two.” 

“That’s not good enough,” the engineer shakes his head rapidly, “Bruce, the Rouge Avengers are coming in a few days to negotiate on the New Accords! Peter-He can’t be at the compound when they do! And especially like this! He’s- He can’t even-!” 

Tony’s breath starts coming in pants and he grips his left wrist to still its shaking.

“Tony, it’s okay. They’re not here yet, we’ve got time to plan, alright?” the doctor rushes to reassure, “But you need to relax. We can’t make plans if you’re panicking. Breath with me okay? It’s gonna be fine, I promise. Just follow me, come on, deep breath in… Let it out…”

The engineer follows his friend’s instructions as best he can, pushing away memories of the “Civil War”. 

His kid being swatted to the ground at the airport, thinking he was dead for a heart stopping moment. Rhodey falling and being unable to catch him, watching that impact and knowing he was too damn late. Thoughts of Siberia and the cold, his parents dying, being murdered. Cap driving the shield Howard Stark made into Tony’s chest, and nope, just gotta breathe. 

But he can’t.

He knows he’s taking in oxygen, probably too much, but his brain doesn’t get that and his thoughts start to go fuzzy with panic. 

Breathe slower. 

He needs to count. Wait, someone is counting. Four seconds in. Hold seven. Breathe out eight.

Again. 

In. Out. In. Out. 

When Tony finally clears the black spots from his vision sometime later, Bruce is still coaxing him to breathe, he was the one counting for him, and he finds that he’s clutching Peter’s hand. Tony immediately loosens his tight grip and gently tucks Peter’s hand back under the warm covers.

“Sorry,” the engineer croaks, not looking up at the holoscreen. 

Bruce sighs heavily and leans back in his lab chair. “It’s fine Tony, I think you were entitled to a panic attack today.”

“Just one?” Tony shakily jokes, “Okay, now that my anxiety has had its fun, let’s figure out our game plan.”

As much as anxiety and panic attacks are the worst, once he comes down he’s usually too emotionally exhausted to feed his anxiety again. 

“I’d say just keep him at the tower and let us come to you, but I need to be at those accords meetings too and your pharma labs aren’t as equipped as Helen’s here at the compound,” his friend suggests apologetically. 

Tony nods tiredly. “I know. We have to transfer the kid upstate.” 

“Yeah, but I’ve got an idea. You’ve got biometric sensors in his bed at the compound right?”

“Of course, who do you think I am?”

“Right,” Bruce chuckles, “Then we can move him and any equipment we need to his own room assuming he stays stable. He doesn't have to be in the medbay here. You were already going to restrict access to your level right?”

Tony nods mutely. His therapist told him it was okay to put up boundaries when he doesn’t feel safe, and yeah the Rogues don’t exactly instill a sense of safety in him these days. The only ones with direct access to his floor and lab now are Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, and Peter. Even Bruce and Helen can only come up on request through FRIDAY. Tony doesn’t intend to allow the Rogues even that. 

“Then he’ll be fine. No one will be able to get to him without your or FRIDAY’s permission. He can stay there until we can wake him up, no one will even know he’s there but us and a nurse or two,” Bruce assures. 

“Yeah, okay. Not a bad plan at all Dr. Banner. I knew I kept you around for more than your good looks,” Tony jokes. 

That gets a smirk out of the big guy. “I would hope so, with my insane paycheck.” 

“You deserve every cent Brucie-Bear,” Tony tells him, managing his own weak grin at their typical banter. 

Bruce’s face softens, but his tone goes back to professional. “For tonight just keep his temperature close to his baseline and we’ll monitor his vitals. If he stays stable we can transfer him to the compound in the morning, if not we’ll do our best to come to you but that would probably mean it would take twice as long to get him up and about again.”

“The sooner the better.”

“Have the Quinjet ready and staffed for the morning. I’ll see you when you get here and we’ll have his room set up. He’s gonna be okay Tony, Helen and I will have a solution before you know it,” the doctor reassures with a small smile, and the engineer’s tense muscles relax a little. 

“Yeah, thanks for your help Bruce,” Tony gives a tired smile and disconnects the call. 

Tony slumps into the plush chair next to Peter’s bed and looks over at the kid. With no one to watch him, the engineer runs his hand through the spider kid’s wild curls and sighs. Peter is still and quiet on the bed and doesn’t lean into the touch, and it’s almost disturbing to see him like this. Tony is so used to constant animated movements and a motor mouth, even when the kid is injured. 

When the spiderling’s quiet that’s when he knows something is wrong. 

A quick glance at the monitor shows his temperature is up a bit more at 95.1 which is something at least. Hopefully they can get it back up to normal ranges in a few hours. For a time Tony just sits next to the kid’s bed while he orders FRIDAY to get people ready to prep a Quinjet for the morning and looks over Peter’s blood sample from his Starkpad. He’s no bio-chem expert (that’s Bruce and Peter’s territory), but he has a rudimentary knowledge of the subject. 

Tony startles from looking over his AI’s analysis when his phone goes off, blaring a klaxon noise repeatedly, and the engineer blanches. 

That’s the kid’s aunt’s ringtone. In his panic he’d completely forgotten to let her know what had happened. No doubt she’s wondering why her spiderling didn’t come home from patrol yet. 

How the _hell_ is he going to explain this to May?

\---

To his surprise May doesn’t flip as bad as Tony thought she would. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that for once no one is to blame but Peter’s weird spider DNA. To be fair, hibernation isn’t nearly as bad as bleeding out from a stab wound or running into a burning building and getting covered in second degree burns. It also helps that he tells her that he’s already got his two best scientists on the job. Or maybe it’s just how close they’ve grown during these last few months fretting over a reckless teenaged vigilante. 

“I’ll tell his school that he’s come down with a bad case of pneumonia if you can get me a note, it is the season for it after all. And I’ll let his friends know,” May tells him with a tired sigh. 

“I’ll have Cho write something up. Kid’s not gonna be happy when he finds out how much work he’ll have to make up.” Tony manages to smile a little at the thought. 

“I can already hear his squawking,” May huffs, and then in a smaller voice, “I can come see him at the compound?”

“Of course May, he’s your kid.”

“I’d say he’s our kid at this point, Tony, wouldn’t you?”

The question catches Tony a bit by surprise, but he thinks of the past few months since the Homecoming incident when Tony decided to take a hands on approach to mentoring. 

Peter coming over to the tower a few days a week after school to work in the SI labs, and weekends at the compound spent training or at the tower in Tony’s personal lab. More so, all the nights Peter’s spent over in his own room on Tony’s private floor upstate or at the tower, the two of them watching movies and ordering takeout when Pepper chases them out of the workshop. All that on top of helping the kid with homework, and rescuing the spiderling from patrols gone bad. 

And yeah, fuck, Peter is not just _the_ kid, but _his_ kid.

“I guess so.” Tony finally manages around the tightness in his throat. 

He’s known for a while now that Peter is much more than his intern or even mentee, even if he’s never really put their relationship into words. Although Tony’s actions certainly speak loud and clear. The kid is family, just like Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, and even Bruce. Hell, he had the Parkers over for Thanksgiving this year at the tower with the rest of the gang, and is planning on inviting them over for Christmas too, if the New Accords don’t get in the way. 

“But…hibernation? Really?” May asks after a long pause, breaking the sappy moment.

“Really,” Tony smirks, more than happy to change the subject. 

They both let out slightly hysterical chuckles. 

“Only Peter,” the kid’s aunt sighs, but he can hear the fond smile in her voice. 

“Just give me a call whenever you want to come by and I’ll have Happy pick you up,” Tony tells her, and takes a breath before he tackles the next issue, “I don’t know if you’ve been seeing the news, but the Rogue Avengers are supposed to be coming soon to discuss new accords after their pardons, so we’ll have to work around all that. They’ll probably be at the compound for a while, what with house arrest and parole.”

There’s an irritated tsk on the other end. “We heard. Peter has been pretty upset about it.” 

“He’s upset? Why?” Tony asks, confused. In Germany Peter had been over the moon to meet the other Avengers, even if they were fighting. Not that Tony had thought it would have actually come to the serious blows it did, otherwise he might have thought harder on taking Peter with him. 

May makes an exasperated noise.“Tony… They fought you, betrayed you, and they’re coming back into your home. Peter knows you were in the hospital after the dust settled. Of course he’s not happy about it. That kid is nothing if not loyal to his family.” 

Tony’s not really sure how to respond to that. “Oh.” 

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” the engineer can practically hear May rolling her eyes, “Take care of our spider kid, but don’t forget to look after yourself too. Rhodey is going to be there with you, right?”

“Yeah,” Tony breathes, still a bit stunned at hearing that the whole overprotective family feeling isn’t a one way street.

“Good. I have to get back to work now but I’ll call you. Thanks for taking care of him Tony.” May tells him warmly. 

“Well it’s too damn quiet without the little trouble maker up and about, and I don’t want to bring down the wrath of May Parker regardless. I’ll have the Spider-Baby up from his nap before you know it,” the engineer declares with as much bravado as he can muster to hide the warm feeling threatening to choke him. 

“I know you will. You aren’t alone Tony, we’ve all got your back.” 

May disconnects the call and Tony stares at his phone a little stunned. It still shocks him how much May has changed her tune about him after the Vulture incident and they grew closer. Tony breathes out a heavy breath. The coming week is going to be hell, but the weight of it feels lessened with May’s assurances. She’s right, he’s got his family behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write an overly descriptive IV placing scene? Yes, because one of my biggest fiction nitpicks in fiction is not knowing how they actually work. The needle/sharp comes out and a plastic straw stays in, I promise. There's gonna be some science bs in this fic obvs, but I'll try to keep it accurate if I can. Also is this whump??? I feel like it's too soft but let me know if you think I should tag. 
> 
> Well, let me know what you think! I'm thinking there will probably be 3 or 4 chapters in total for this story.


	2. Bracing for the Blizzard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled a bit with this chapter as it’s a bit of a transition one. I, in FRIDAY’s words, ‘knackered’ my ankle and was recovering from that. I’m gonna preemptively apologize for the lack of Peter being his adorable self in this chapter. Spider-Baby is still napping, sorry. Also a lot of exposition to my cute little Ironfam AU incoming.

Tony spends most of the night by Peter’s bedside, too keyed up to leave. He calls Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper to inform them of the situation. Rhodey expresses his disbelief at the hibernation thing repeatedly, while Happy asks gruff questions about Peter’s condition and how May is taking the news. Pepper tells him that she’s going to meet them at the compound in the morning, no matter that she’s supposed to go to London for a tech conference. 

He tries to argue but she leaves no room for protests, telling Tony that _she will be there, for God’s sake he and Peter need her more than the damn company right now,_ and then hangs up on him. 

He loves her so much. 

Tony does his best to reassure all of them that they’re working on the problem and afterwards turns the TV on to old episodes of _Burn Notice_ in Peter’s room. He’s already planning to settle in for a sleepless night. It’s rare Tony sleeps well in general, but it’s always worse when Peter or Rhodey are laid up with injuries from superhero-ing, Pepper’s overworked, or Bruce spent the day green around the gills. 

Whenever the people he cares about are hurt, sick, or God forbid MIA, he finds himself staying up for days at a time, until whatever it is, be it illness or injury is passed. Tony remembers sleeping like shit for ages after Rhodey’s spine injury, spending days at a time in his workshop basically living on coffee, alcohol, and granola bars. 

FRIDAY is monitoring Peter’s vitals and brainwaves from the biosensors in his mattress and will alert Tony if anything happens, and he _knows_ that, but his anxiety has been irrationally whispering at him that something terrible might happen if he falls asleep. Despite the worry, the exhaustion wins out and the engineer passes out in the armchair he’d dragged next to Peter’s bed sometime around three in the morning. 

Tony dreams of frozen wastelands and the ringing sound of Vibranium that leaves him with the overwhelming sense that something is terribly wrong. Thankfully the dream shifts to a warm fall day in Central Park, and the familiar laughter of his family clear against the chatter of tourists. 

It’s restless but somehow he sleeps the night. 

\---

Tony wakes with a start when someone enters the kid’s room, and he’s halfway to summoning a suit until he realizes it’s just the tower’s resident doctor and a nurse. He gets up from his chair as his back protests last night’s sleeping position loudly, and lets them get to it. They need one last all clear from medical before they can transfer the kid, and Tony himself really needs to get his life together before the move to the compound. 

So loathe as he is to leave Peter’s side, he also acknowledges that he really needs to at least put on new clothes and pack some things for both him and the spiderling. They both have a lot of clothes and other essentials split between the tower and the compound so he doesn’t need to pack much, but he knows Peter will want his phone and laptop when he wakes up. 

To everyone’s relief Peter’s vitals and brain waves stayed stable throughout the night and his temperature climbed up to 97.1, which is a huge improvement. As such, he’s given the all clear from both the tower doctor and Helen to be moved to the compound. 

The Quinjet ride upstate is thankfully short because Tony is incredibly wired yet exhausted the morning after his rough night at his kid’s bedside. He’d sat next to the spiderling’s gurney the whole time on the plane too. Peter’s asleep sure, but Tony knows that the kid isn’t a fan of planes. And if he plays with the Spider-Baby’s hair that’s all definitely to soothe the unconscious and oblivious kid’s nerves. 

Yep. For sure. 

When they land, Pepper, Bruce, Helen, and her staff are already waiting to meet them. Tony stumbles off the ramp, intending to follow the compound medics already wheeling Peter’s gurney away, when Pepper puts an arm in front of him to stop him. 

“Pep, the kid-”

“Is going to be more than fine with Bruce and Helen while you take an hour to shower and get something to eat.” 

She looks beautiful as always, fiery hair pulled into a bun and dressed every inch the steel willed CEO she is.

“Yes, but-

“But nothing,” Pepper interrupts with a sharp smile, “I can use my overrides with FRIDAY to keep you out of Peter’s room for three hours, or you can go look after yourself for an hour and then go sit with him again. Peter would agree with me, so would you actually, if this situation were reversed and it was Peter neglecting himself because he was worried over you.”

Tony swallows. “You drive a hard bargain Ms. Potts.”

“Well, I am the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.” 

“Yes you are,” he breathes and has to kiss her, because she’s the most stunning woman he’s ever met. 

Pepper breaks the kiss and gives his chest a gentle push. “Now go. Shower, eat, brush your teeth. I’ve got some video conferences but I’ll come check on you boys later. He’s going to be fine, Tony.” 

After following her instructions Tony grudgingly has to admit that his fiancée was right (as usual), and he does feel much better after taking some time to look after himself. When he’s clean and fed, he shoots off a few texts to May and Rhodey to let them know they made it to the compound safe and sound. 

Peter’s room is across the hall from Tony and Pepper’s room. Originally, he’d had the kid on the same floor with all the other Avengers, but considering how empty the place is now (and the fact that Vision doesn’t really get the concept of doors or privacy yet) it made much more sense to move Peter up to his floor after the kid started staying over. 

It had started out as a bland modernistic guest room, but over time Peter had started adding more personal touches, like asking to repaint the walls to be blue and filling the book cases with school books and scientific journals. He’s even got a few posters up in there now and has let some of his teenage messiness show with his cluttered desk. 

It’s not quite as lived in as his tower room, but it’s still very much screams of disorganized teenage super-nerd. 

Peter is on his side, tucked under the bed covers and a heated blanket when Tony arrives. An IV pole stands nearby, feeding a slow drip of fluids into his arm. Someone has also put a nasal cannula on the kid’s face and the soft hiss of the oxygen tank fills the room. FRIDAY has already taken the liberty of displaying the spider kid’s vitals on a holoscreen next to the bed.

Tony sits down in the armchair someone has thoughtfully brought in for visitors and gingerly brushes unruly curls from Peter’s face. He has much more color today and just looks like he’s peacefully sleeping instead of dead, which is an obvious improvement. 

“His saturation dropped a bit more than Helen was comfortable with after transit, so we put him on oxygen, and I’ve got him on fluids and nutrients,” Bruce’s voice startles Tony, and he turns to see his friend leaning against the door jamb watching him, “His metabolism slowed way down, but he didn’t spend months preparing for hibernation like most animals would. The last thing we need is him dehydrated or malnourished.” 

“Thanks for looking out for my kid Brucie-Bear,” Tony murmurs. 

“Of course, but it’s not just for you, he’s important to me too Tony. Our junior science-bro and all that. Even the big guy’s fond,” the doctor tells him. 

Tony manages a bit of a smirk. “Not even Hulk can resist the spiderling’s charms, huh?”

“He’s a great kid, what can I say? We’ll get him fixed up in no time, and then we can figure out a more permanent solution to this thermoregulation problem so this doesn’t happen again.”

The smirk is gone from Tony’s face that quickly. “Yeah, guess we shouldn’t have left it on the back burner for so long.”

Bruce, Helen, and he had all been more concerned with synthesizing pain meds, anesthetics, and fever reducers that would work with the kid’s super metabolism. With all the trouble he gets into as Spider-Man not having something to knock Peter out or manage pain was a concern. Between that and working on new accords, normal Avengers stuff, and personal projects, the thermoregulation concerns had fallen to the wayside. 

Then again no one was aware it was this big of an issue, and Peter has a tendency to downplay problems. But it’s also Tony’s fault for leaving anything to do with the kid’s health unfinished for so long. 

He doesn’t intend to make the same mistake again. 

“We should probably take another look at his DNA, run more tests too,” Bruce suggests, “Between this, the nutrient deficiencies, and the peppermint thing who knows what other spider-based surprises might come from his mutated genes.”

Tony grimaces at the memory of the Peppermint Incident. “I’m sure Peter would love to help with it when he wakes up.”

For a few moments they both fall silent, and Tony turns back to watching Peter’s slumbering form. Bruce, Helen, and Tony are three of the top minds in the world and they can figure this out no problem. Hell, he knows a wizard too if nothing else works. For now Peter is safe and warm, even if he is basically in a coma. _Everything will be fine_ , Tony tells himself firmly. He won’t let it be anything else. 

Of course Bruce is never one to shy away from hard conversations and is more than willing to intrude on the engineer’s internal pep talk with things he’s been trying not to think about. 

“Are you going to be okay to deal with the Rogues with this going on?”

“No,” Tony tells him truthfully after a moment to mull it over, “But I don’t really have a choice.” 

His friend gives him a sympathetic look, and Tony has to turn away from it. “Rhodey and I will be here with you, even Vision, alright? We’ve got your back with this.”

“I know you do,” the engineer says through stress clenched teeth, “I just wanted Peter far away from the compound while they were here.” 

Bruce snorts and shakes his head. “You and I both know that this kid would have either convinced you to let him be here with his puppy dog eyes or snuck onto the grounds.”

“He’d have tried.”

There are some things that Tony won’t budge on with Peter, like what threats are too big, his curfew on patrol, or that school has to come first. This would have been one of them. Tony doesn’t even want the Rogues to know Peter Parker exists, let alone that he is one of the most important people in Tony’s life. And the spiderling being here at the compound with them substantially increases the risk of him being discovered, even with precautions. 

“Well he’s nice and stable, so I’m gonna head down to the lab with Helen and see what we can come up with. We had some good brainstorming last night, so I think we can get started. Did you want to come down and give us a hand?” Bruce asks.

The engineer shakes his head. “Not today. I’m still a little…” 

_A little what?_ Overprotective, anxious, stressed? 

“Distracted,” is what Tony settles on. 

“Yeah, I can tell,” Bruce huffs, and then gives him an exasperated look, “Try to sleep for more than 3 hours tonight, alright? You’re not gonna be any help to Peter or Helen and I if you’re dead on your feet.”

“No promises, doc.” 

Bruce leaves and Tony turns on his Starkpad with a sigh. He may as well get some work done while he sits with the kid.

He passes much of the day that way, working on multiple projects from his tablet, everything from SI stuff, to new ideas for his and the kid’s suits, and emails from UN members for the new accords. He’d usually do these sorts of things down in the lab, but he still can’t quite bring himself to leave the kid’s side for extended periods of time yet. 

Pepper comes in some time later with lunch and sits with Tony next to Peter’s bed while they eat. She tells him about her day and the engineer is more than glad for the distraction, falling into easy banter and flirting with his fiancee. Before she leaves, Pepper sighs sadly as she rubs her thumb soothingly over Peter’s cheekbone. 

They’ve grown a lot closer ever since Peter spent a week shadowing Pepper at SI, and at the time Tony had teasingly complained about the theft of his intern. But he’s thankful, because even though they team up on his bad habits now, he couldn’t be happier that two of the most important people in his life get along so well. The clear adoration and concern on Pepper’s face makes Tony’s heart squeeze painfully. 

It scares him how much he loves both of them. It scares him that he can even admit that to himself too. 

The moment passes and Pepper kisses Tony, chaste and quick, before she’s called away to work again. He’s half tempted to beg her to stay.

“You see that?” the engineer asks the sleeping spider kid once his fiancée is out of the room, “Pepper’s real worried about you, and she’s got a stressful enough day job, let alone looking after me. So you’d better wake up soon and stop stressing her and everyone else out, kid.”

Peter obviously makes no comment and continues to slumber on, blissfully unaware. 

Pepper returns around dinner time, but instead of bringing food in, she forces Tony into the kitchen to sit at the table. It takes nearly ten minutes of her cajoling to get him to leave Peter’s room, and the minute they sit down with the take out boxes Tony is telling FRIDAY to pull up a livestream from the kid’s room along with his vitals on his Starkpad. For once Pepper doesn’t try to reason away his anxiety, and obviously lets him have it as a compromise for leaving the room. 

She does, however, protest Tony’s attempts to sit awake at Peter’s bedside another night. It takes Pepper half an hour to wear him down this time, and it’s not until she threatens to pilot one of his suits to drag him to their bed that he actually allows her to tug him out of the room. 

“Peter is sleeping, Tony, and you need to be too. He’s not going anywhere, and FRIDAY will wake you if anything happens. Which it won’t,” she tells him as she shoves his sleepwear at him sternly, “We are in one of the most secure buildings on the face of the earth, have a staff of specialized doctors, and a stocked medbay a few floors below us.”

Logically he knows that Pepper is right, but he can’t help the anxiety he feels as an uneasiness at the base of his skull when the kid’s not in view. Tony is also aware that he’s being a bit obsessive and overprotective, (as he is with most everything in his life) but as his family probably knows at this point, that’s just how he loves. Overbearing and all consuming. He’s trying to work on toning it down a little, but paranoia, PTSD, and anxiety will do that to most people. 

Pepper must see the conflict in his eyes. That he wants to try and rest and listen to her but his mental state is getting in the way. An angel as always, his fiancée sighs and lets him have another compromise. 

“If FRIDAY brings up his vitals on your tablet again will you try and get some rest?”

“Yeah… I can do that,” Tony agrees and FRIDAY pulls up the spiderling’s stats on his Starkpad, minus the video without having to be asked. 

“Peter will be fine, don’t listen to your anxiety,” Pepper tells him when they’re snuggled under the covers together, the tablet propped up on the nearby nightstand throwing a soft blue glow over the room. 

“I know. Trust me when I say I’m trying not to,” Tony breathes against her neck, the smell of her light floral perfume familiar and calming. 

She gives him a sleepy smile. “Good. Now get some sleep Mr. Stark.”

“Sweet dreams Ms. Potts.” 

Pepper is asleep quickly as usual with the stress of being Stark Industries’ CEO on her shoulders. Tony lies awake and watches both the slow rise and fall of her chest next to him and Peter’s steady vitals for a while. To his surprise the engineer finds himself nodding off much sooner than he thought possible, his own exhaustion catching up to him with the calming lull of Pepper and Peter’s sleep slowed breathing. 

He’s more than happy to give into sleep for once. Tony thinks he’s going to need as much as he can get for what’s to come.

\---

Unfortunately (because the universe often expresses its hatred of him) Tony wakes up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath from a nightmare he can’t quite remember. It takes his frantic brain and body several panicked moments to realize that he is, in fact, safe in his bed at the compound. When he finally realizes that, Tony lets out a choked sigh, relieved he didn’t wake Pepper with his thrashing for once. 

“Boss you appear to be in distress, would you like me to call someone or run through your breathing exercises with you?” FRIDAY asks at a whisper, also looking to avoid waking the lady of the house. 

“No FRI, I’m good,” he quietly tells the AI, wiping his forehead, “What time is it?”

“It’s 4:13 am, Boss.” 

Tony groans softly and climbs gingerly out of bed. “Might as well get an early start then.” 

He dresses quietly and quickly, trying very hard not to wake his fiancée, and only has one worried moment where she shifts and mumbles but luckily stays asleep. He stumbles into the kitchen and makes himself a pot of very strong coffee, then peels and eats a hardboiled egg despite not having an appetite. Pepper keeps track of them to make sure he eats one for breakfast everyday and FRI will tattle on him if he throws them away.

After that Tony can’t resist the urge anymore and heads to the kid’s room. Just as Pepper promised, the Spider-Baby is perfectly fine, although still hibernating of course. One of the nurses Helen assigned to Peter had obviously been let up by FRIDAY at some point since Tony’s been here last, as the kid has been washed, changed, and shifted to avoid bedsores. They’ve also refilled his IV drips, which must be near constant to make up for the fact that the kid with a super metabolism and no body fat to spare hasn’t actually eaten in almost two days. 

Tony stands in the doorway for a bit, some stubborn tension he hadn’t noticed in his shoulders relaxing a bit at the sight of his sleeping kid. After a few minutes, he forces himself to turn away and head to the lab. Stressing at Peter’s bedside isn’t helping either of them as much as Tony’s paranoia demands he do so. Building or fixing something in the workshop is at least a bit more productive and will be a good distraction. 

That still doesn’t keep Tony from having a holoscreen up of a video feed from the kid’s room along with his ever stable vitals. He does his best to glance at it only ever ten or so minutes. 

About two hours later when Tony has finished some more coding on the newly upgraded Iron Spider and is in the middle of dissecting the ruined wiring of the Spider Suit, a freshly woken Pepper uses FRIDAY’s system to page him.

“Please tell me you haven’t been in the lab all night.”

“I haven’t,” Tony assures, “It’s only been...two hours?”

There’s a sigh over the speakers that sounds exasperated but a little fond. Pepper is well aware of his erratic sleeping habits and how he deals with them.

“I did sleep. I even ate breakfast. I’d say I’m doing pretty well all things considered, Pep,” Tony defends automatically. 

“I didn’t say you weren’t. I was going to say I was surprised you weren’t in Peter’s room,” his fiancée explains. 

The engineer rubs his tired eyes. “Figured I could stress down in the lab and tinker rather than stress next to the kid and sort through boring emails.” 

“I only send you the important emails, Tony.”

“Exactly. Boring emails.” 

Before Pepper can get out any more than a frustrated _tsk_ , FRIDAY interrupts them. 

“Boss, you’ve got an incoming call from May Parker.” 

Tony practically leaps at the chance to get out of the hole he’s been digging himself into. “I’ve gotta take that Pep.”

“I need to call into a meeting soon anyway,” Pepper sighs in defeat, “Let me know when May is going to come up, I want to stop in and see her. We haven’t had a chance to see each other much since Thanksgiving.” 

Tony remembers how quickly the two of them had hit it off that day. It was almost scary. Since then May and Pepper have been a united force to be reckoned with. Even Peter knows his puppy dog eyes can’t win against both of them combined. 

“Introducing the two of you was a horrible idea,” the engineer groans playfully as he switches to May’s call. 

\---

After speaking with Tony, May calls off half a shift at the hospital to come up and check on Peter. Tony let’s Pep know when the kid’s aunt is coming up and has Happy go get her and the man does without complaint. When Tony heads down to meet them in the spacious lobby, May startles him with a sudden hug in greeting. He’s used to Peter’s clinginess, but the kid’s aunt takes him by surprise. She’s usually warm with him these days, but this is a first. 

“Tony, thank you for this,” May says, voice a bit shaky as she pulls away, “If I had been on my own and Peter had just fallen asleep like that... I-I don’t know what I would have even-”

The engineer interrupts her quickly. “Hey, hey, none of that. You know I wouldn’t leave you and Pete out in the cold on this, May. Literally this time.” 

“I know I just started over thinking about this whole thing and... Just, thank God we have you. I don’t even know how I would have helped him, even if I had caved and taken him to a regular hospital…” the kid’s aunt trails off looking a bit haunted at the thought. 

Tony can imagine too. Peter being in a coma for months with doctors who know nothing about his mutation, the inadequate care, the bills piling up, others discovering his mutated DNA and secret identity. They’re not good scenarios. 

“Don’t stress yourself out on the ‘what ifs’. None of them matter because me, Bruce, and Dr. Cho got this.” the engineer tells May firmly. 

“I know and I trust you. I’m just freaking out a little. Raising a teenager is hard enough without them having superpowers,” she shakes her head tiredly. 

“We worked this out remember? You take care of most of the normal teenager drama and I cover all the spidery bits. Teamwork and all that,” Tony reassures gripping her shoulders. 

May nods, head hanging. “Right.” 

There’s a moment of awkward silence before Tony feels the need to fill it. 

“Do you need something to drink? Water, coffee, something stronger?” 

May chuckles a bit. “No, thanks. Can we just-?”

The engineer waves her towards the elevator. “Yeah, come on up. I had Cho’s team set him up in his own room since he’s stable and we’re about to have nosy super-spy house guests.”

A short elevator ride and a few hallways later and Tony is leading May into Peter’s bedroom. The spider kid looks the same as he had when Tony checked on him before going down to greet May. Still sleeping peacefully, face half smooshed in his pillow and curls wild with bedhead. Tony lets May take the recliner while he leans against the opposite wall fussing anxiously with the Rubix cube on Peter’s desk. 

“Oh sweetheart, you always find trouble don’t you?” the kid’s aunt sighs, brushing a few loose locks away from Peter’s forehead, being mindful of the nasal cannula. 

The spider kid remains just as unresponsive to his aunt’s voice as anyone else’s. May spends a few minutes smoothing down both Peter’s hair and bed sheets as she speaks to him softly while Tony does his best to give her space. When she settles back into the chair with another sigh he hands her his Starkpad opened to the kid’s chart. 

He lets her look over his info while he explains in more detail what he, Bruce, and Helen are working on to wake Peter up. She taps through things on the tablet and nods along to his ramblings for a bit before she looks up at him, cutting off his nervous babbling lecture on the differences in the endocrine systems between mammals and arachnids. 

“How are you doing Tony?”

“Just peachy,” he tells her with a quick press smile. 

May frowns, sharp eyes looking him up and down behind her glasses. “Don’t bullshit me, you’re not as good a liar as you think you are. You sort of look like crap and I don’t think I’ve seen you this unkempt since Peter got shot on patrol. So spill, Stark.” 

“It’s a wonder the spiderling ever tries to get away with anything around you.” 

May gives him the ghost of a smile but ignores his attempted avoidance and rolls her wrist at him in a ‘get on with it’ motion. 

“It’s the new accords. We need them, but there’s few things I hate more than government type meetings. Even with Ross out of the picture thanks to my hacking and the X-Men’s leg work there are still plenty of blow hard politicians around. And having the Ex-vengers or Rogues or whatever the hell they call themselves back was always going to be a...challenge for me.” Tony admits when May gives him a raised eyebrow that’s a little too similar to Maria Stark’s. 

“You mean emotionally exhausting and probably a bit traumatic. I’m guessing Peter getting…sick was the metaphorical straw that is breaking the camel's back.” 

“Partially. I didn’t want the kid here. I wanted him safe and away from all this,” Tony gestures at the compound at large. 

“He would have tried to be here anyway,” the kid’s aunt informs him. 

“That’s almost exactly what Bruce said.” 

May smirks teasingly. “Smart man. No wonder Peter looks up to him _so_ much.” 

“Hey I may not have as many official PhDs as the big buy, but I’m Pete’s favorite superhero so you’re stuck with me,” the engineer quips back. 

“Dang, are you sure?” 

At Tony’s mock offended glare May lets out a snort of laughter and shakes her head. She gets up and pulls him over to sit with her on the edge of the Spider-Baby’s bed. 

“Tony, if I know anything about Peter, it’s that he’s as kind as he is stubborn. He would have wanted to be here for you no matter how many times you told him no. I’m pretty sure even if this hadn’t happened you would have had a spider sneaking around the place.”

“Like I told Bruce, he would have tried,” the engineer tells her, “Everyone seems to forget that I’m one of the most stubborn bastards in the galaxy. I’m...grateful he cares that much about me, but I don’t want him around the Rogues.”

May frowns in concern. “You think they would hurt him?”

“I don’t know. I never thought they’d…” _Hurt me._ Tony rubs a hand over his jaw, “I think at the very least they would figure out he’s not exactly a normal intern. And I don’t know how they’d feel about that.”

The kid’s aunt takes one of his calloused hands in her own. “This is going to sound rich coming from me but Peter can physically hold his own against the Rogues, as you both proved. So I’m sure that anything they have to say to him about his powers, his age, or what he does will roll off his back.” 

Tony winces a bit at the reminder of Germany, he really shouldn’t have taken a fourteen year old to that fight even if the kid can bench more than Captain America and the Winter Soldier combined now that he’s on a proper diet. 

“I know you’re used to being the comfort giver between you and our kid, but Peter is more than capable of giving it in return. When he wakes up it’ll probably be close to his winter break anyway, and he’s not going to want to leave you with them. So just…let him, and us, be there for you when shit hits the fan like this, okay? That’s what family is for,” May tells him gently but her eyes hold a steady sort of steel. 

“I’ll...try,” Tony promises feeling a bit choked up, “Dr. Cho and Bruce say their magic cure is likely going to need to be given over a few days, so it looks like he’s gonna be stuck here with me anyway.”

“He’ll be happy about that,” May says. 

Before they can get even more out of Tony’s emotional comfort zone, a knock at the door frame calls their attention. Pepper stands there in a sharp blazer with a kind smile.

“Hey you two. I ordered lunch, hope you’re okay with Chinese, May. It’s one of the only things we can have delivered out this way.” 

“Thank you Pepper, and yes, I’m more than okay with Chinese,” the kid’s aunt replies as she stands, dropping a kiss onto Peter’s forehead. 

Together the three of them head to the kitchen for a casual lunch catching up and subtly watching the spider kid’s vitals on a holoscreen. Before long though, their pleasant break has to end. Pepper needs to return to her video meetings and May has to head back to the city to get ready for work that evening. She stops in Peter’s room briefly to say goodbye and promises to see him again as soon as she can. 

“Tell Peter to call me when he’s up, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to come back up. We’re busy, what with flu season in full swing,” May tells Tony as he walks her to Happy’s car. 

Tony mock salutes. “You got it Aunt Hottie.”

She swats his arm in retaliation and then pats his cheek after his yelp of pain. 

“It’ll all work out Tony, your team has your back.”

Then she lets Happy help her into the car and leaves Tony to stew over everything she’s told him. 

\--- 

Rhodey finally arrives at the compound not long after dinner. He’s been getting everything finalized for the arrival of the Rogues with the bigwigs in DC. Since his injury during the Civil War he hasn’t seen much combat, even with the new and improved War Machine armor that fits with his braces. Instead he’s taken over as the Avengers’ direct liaison to the government. He certainly has a better head for it than Tony ever did. 

FRIDAY pages him when his best friend arrives and Tony has his AI tell Rhodey to meet them in the kid’s room when he gets settled. 

“You really weren’t shitting me,” Rhodey says a few minutes later walking in, his wide eyes on Peter’s slumbering form. 

“Not something I’d joke about, Honey-Bear,” Tony reprimands lightly, not looking up from his Starkpad where he’s looking over SI emails that Pepper insists are “important”. 

Rhodey sits on the edge of the kid’s bed, leg braces hissing slightly as they bend. “Jesus, I just really didn’t think… I mean this is out there, even for us.” 

“That’s saying something,” Tony huffs, setting his work aside to look at his best friend. 

“But he’s gonna be okay?” Rhodey asks, hand hovering over Peter’s shoulder as if he’s afraid to break the spider kid.

“Yeah,” the engineer sighs, rubbing a hand over his eyes, “Already got Helen and the big guy working on a solution. They think it should be done in a week or two.”

Rhodey hums, gazing down at the boy he considers his pseudo-nephew. “That’s good, even though the timing is really shit.”

“Just about the worst week for it, yeah.” 

They sit in silence for a moment, both watching the agonisingly slow rise and fall of Peter’s chest. Tony knows that his kid is stable, but his slowed breathing still sparks a bit of primal fear in the engineer. He can tell the unnatural sluggish pace of it is bothering his best friend too. 

“He looks peaceful,” Rhodey finally says.

“Yeah, thankfully his brain waves indicate that he’s in a state similar to deep state sleep, so no risk of nightmares at least,” Tony says, shaking off his anxious thoughts and looking up at Peter’s vitals on the nearby monitor. Watching the steady readouts centers him a bit, and he reaches over absentmindedly to ruffle the kid’s hair. The action is honestly more for Tony’s comfort than Peter’s at the moment. 

“He’ll be up and annoying us both before you know it, Tones,” Rhodey consoles, standing up with a mechanical hiss and clapping his best friend on the back. 

“I know, I know. It’s just-”

“You’re worried, I get it. He’s your kid.” 

“Yeah… Yeah he is,” Tony says softly. 

Rhodey blinks and stares at him for a moment. “Damn you admitted it.”

Tony sends him a cutting glare and Rhodey puts his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, just, I know you have trouble verbalizing your feelings, man. I was just surprised. In a good way.”

The engineer huffs sardonically. “Not very Tony Stark is it?”

“Sure it is, you tell me all the time you can do whatever you damn well please, so if Tony Stark wants to express his feelings he can,” Rhodey informs him with a smirk. 

Tony barks out a laugh at that. 

“Hey Tones,” Rhodey says, forcing eye contact to show his sincerity, “This New Accords stuff? It works, it's important and we're gonna make everyone see it, okay? We’ve been working under them for months and your exposure of Ross won us a lot of public support.” 

The slight smile on Tony’s face drops. “It’s not the Accords themselves, you know that.” 

“Yeah I do. Look, maybe they don’t have to stay here. We could see if they can go back to staying in Wakanda.” 

“I’m pretty sure the UN is gonna want them based here indefinitely, Platypus. I’m also _not_ sure His Kitty-Catness will want to take them back. Wakanda is already getting enough shit for taking Rogers and his merry band in the first place, and the whole hiding from the world thing,” the engineer shakes his head, “I wouldn’t blame T’Challa for not wanting to deal with this either, he’s got a country to run and didn’t they just have some sort of attempted coup too?” 

Rhodey nods solemnly. “Yeah, there’s rumors going around about something like that happening. I don’t think he was considering the political ramifications of taking in known fugitives when he offered them sanctuary.” 

“To be fair, his father had just been murdered in front of him. I’m not sure he was thinking very clearly. I would know.” Tony reminds him in a slightly strained voice. 

“Yeah,” Rhodey says roughly, “You would.”

“Either way, after this shit’s settled, you don’t have to stay here with them if they can’t leave,” his friend looks down at Peter, “I know you prefer the city anyway.” 

Tony’s lips twitch upwards. “Not disagreeing with you there. I think I’ve been conditioned to associate the compound with painfully boring meetings and tedious training anyway.” 

Rhodey rolls his eyes playfully. “Both those things are important.”

“Sure.” 

“Alright, I’ve got a few things to get ready for tomorrow before our old friends get here. Don’t leave me out of the loop with Peter. That kid’s basically my nephew at this point,” his friend tells him, still grinning. 

“If that’s how we're playing this, between you, Happy, and Bruce this kid has some...interesting uncles,” Tony teases, ignoring the pleasant squeeze in his chest at Rhodey’s acceptance of Peter into their lives. 

“I’m pretty sure you’re implying something rude about us, but I’m gonna let it go since you didn’t try to deny it,” Rhodey quips back without missing a beat. 

Tony puts a dramatic hand on his chest. “I would never insult you like that Honey-Bear.”

“Right,” his friend deadpans. 

Tony walks with Rhodey to the door and his friend turns around and pulls him into a quick hug. “Don’t even worry about tomorrow okay, I’ve always got your six.” 

The anxiety that Tony has been doing his best to ignore jitters at the reminder of what the morning will bring, even with his best friend’s reassurance. He does his best to push it away for a few more hours. Breaking here in Peter’s room in front of Rhodey is not something he wants to do. It will come, but he can stave it off until he’s locked safely away in his lab with no one but FRIDAY and the bots to see him lose it. 

“And I’ve got yours,” Tony manages to return pulling Rhodey into a side hug. 

After his friend leaves, the engineer collapses in the recliner next to Peter’s bed and hangs his head in his hands, elbows on his knees. _He can do this. He can._ He’s faced far worse than his old teammates. So has Peter. Tony has Rhodey, Pepper, the rest of his little family, and even the Parkers. _He’s not alone. He’s not._

Tony lets out a long strained breath and tries not to think of tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had Tony watch Burn Notice because ngl that's one of my fav shows and I think Tony would really Micheal and his crazy clever plans and cool car. They have the same vibe and would either get along great or be mortal enemies. They both even have super cool gfs and war vet bffs. 
> 
> Also, I'm not gonna go into it much here but basically what happened with Ross is that Tony saw the shit that was happening at the RAFT and teamed up with the X-Men and SHIELD to bust Ross for the inhumane conditions. This also ushered in a lot of new protections for mutants and mutates (because pls let the X-Men win for once I'm begging). As such Team Iron Man is really in the publics good graces during the story. (Maybe one day I can write a short fic of what went down, cuz Tony totally did it for Peter and all the kids like him since he's a mutate)
> 
> So I'm gonna be honest, this story has a vague outline for the rest of it at this point. I've got a few scenes I know I want here and there, but if you guys have anything you'd like to see happen, feel free to comment it and I'll def read your ideas. Or just what you think of the fic so far, that is also valid. 
> 
> Next chapter the Rogues arrive...


	3. The Rogues' Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so there wasn’t going to be that much cap bashing in this fic tbh when I set out to write it. Then I re-watched Civil War for the first time in ages and got real mad at them because Tony is completely in the right in most of his arguments. The world governments were going to mandate the Avengers one way or another and Tony was doing his best to find a more favorable outcome and even said he wanted to amend them in the movie. 
> 
> He’s even sort of right with the stuff about Wanda tbh, not I feel because she’s a “dangerous mutant” but because she’s an ex-HYDRA agent (also in comics her stint with the Brotherhood and possible fatherhood in known mutant extremist Magneto) who actively tried to kill people in AoU and clearly doesn’t have the best grasp on her powers yet. So I could see a lot of people wanting to attack her and SHIELD/the government being iffy on her continued free reign with the Avengers so a “house arrest” is probably the safest option for everyone. 
> 
> Not to mention, Tony didn’t know what the conditions in the RAFT were like or what Ross was really doing behind the scenes either. You can tell in the movie he’s fucking appalled with his team’s conditions and even ignores Ross’s call when Steve and Nat go to break the gang out, while knowing full well what is happening. 
> 
> TLDR: I re-watched Civil War and Ross is the worst but Tony is in the right and Team Cap takes everything he does for them for granted constantly and I’m sick of Tony getting the worst deal (I’m also looking at you Endgame).

In the weeks after Germany, after Siberia, Tony had been a wreck. More than half of what he’d considered his “family” had up and decided to stab him in the back despite all they’d been through together. He’d had to recover in the medbay for nearly two weeks from his injuries and exposure, which had given him way too much time to stew in his failures and regrets.

When Tony was released to his own quarters he finally broke down over the injury of his best friend and the fact that Steve, someone he’d trusted with his life, nearly beat him to death and kept the secret of his parents’ murders. And watching that video of them being killed was another load of trauma he couldn’t even bring himself to examine.

From there he’d spiraled. Tony had been barely eating or sleeping, unable to find a reason to do so. He even started to take up excessive alcohol again, something that had sparked more than one argument with Pepper and Rhodey. His friends tried to get Tony to eat, to sleep, and cleaned him up after nights of getting absolutely shit-faced, but he just didn’t care. 

Sure the old accords had been sort of shitty, and Ross was the scum of the earth (and was now rightfully in the RAFT for his crimes against the mutants and mutates he had wrongfully imprisoned and ordered fucking experiments on), but they could have talked it out, negotiated with the UN and US for revisions, someone else to be in charge or something. Anything other than literally duking it out in foreign countries. 

Yes, Tony had been a bit hasty in pushing the accords as they were, but the world at large had practically been calling for the Avengers’ blood after Ultron. Rightfully so too. Stark Industries was responsible for cleaning up Avengers damage across the globe, lives and property loss both, so Tony is well aware of the collateral in their wake. And it’s never pretty.

Really, one way or another the world was going to force them to heel to clear cut laws and committees or disband. The public had started to become afraid and disillusioned with the Avengers’ free reign. There was too much destruction in their wake. Even if Steve and the others didn’t want to accept that. 

Despite the fact that Tony knows he was in the right, regrets and what-ifs from the "Civil War" plagued his thoughts constantly, driving him into a pit of self-loathing. Things he could have done better, ways he could have convinced the rest of the team, if they had just trusted in his plan to amend the accords and negotiate.

But after two months of moping and recovering Tony had stopped being depressed and gotten pissed. He’d trashed his workshop at the compound and parts of the Avengers’ common room, gotten drunk off his ass again, almost to the point of alcohol poisoning, and woke up the next morning with a horrible hangover and the determination to fix what he could. He moved out of the compound for the time being and started creating Rhodey’s bionic leg braces.

He did his best to not think about the team, living in a state of semi-denial while also digging up any garbage he could on Ross. Accords or not, the man was not one he wanted to have any say over the Avengers or possible recruits. However, a week later in a moment of weakness, Tony temporarily disabled part of the security system at the RAFT to help his former teammates escape when he’d heard chatter that Steve and Natasha were attempting a rescue. 

And the icing on the cake had been putting Ross on hold when he called, as promised. 

It was closure enough for him at the time and Tony started to actually move on from the betrayal of his team after that, but he felt like his life was still missing that spark it’d had. Sure he had Rhodey, Happy, Pepper and Vision to an extent, but it was less than he’d had. His team and family had more than halved. 

And then Peter Parker, who Tony had been avoiding due to his newly reinforced trust issues, downward spiral, and the fact that he saw _way_ too much of himself in the kid, had almost died taking down the Vulture. May Parker had verbally ripped him a new one, and Tony knew that the hands-off approach had been a terrible idea. So after the kid had maturely turned down his offer to be a full time Avenger, Tony had still invited the kid into his labs and into his life. 

And that quickly, Peter had cemented himself in Tony’s inner circle, a steady pillar of positivity and childish excitement for science, pop culture, and superhero-ing. The kid had his angsty teen moments, sure, and he scared the shit out of Tony with some of the stunts he pulled as Spider-Man, but he had a way of growing on you with his puppy dog eyes and quips. 

He was just so _good_ , and Peter needed Tony in a way no one else really had before, as a mentor and father figure both. It made him want to live up to the kid’s blind hero worship and get his act together, to not be anything like his old man when it came to his kid. He looked at Peter and saw the future of the Avengers and Stark Industries, all in a kid already far better than himself. 

As such Tony tried to sleep more often so he wouldn’t be a zombie for labs nights and weekends with the spiderling, and ate regularly because this kid with a super metabolism would go until he collapsed if Tony didn’t call a dinner break. Tony practically stopped drinking, much to the rest of his family’s great relief, and finally went to that shrink that Pepper had been begging him to see for ages. 

Everyone knew that Peter’s presence was the root of Tony’s desire to take better care of himself, and between that and just being his normal kind, awkward, and snarky self, the kid had endeared himself to the rest of Tony’s family too. Even May had admitted that Tony and Peter were good for one another, and she hadn’t seen her nephew so happy since before Ben was killed. 

Then Thor and Bruce had returned with all of Asgard in tow not long after the Homecoming incident and Tony was overjoyed to have one of his best friends back. Now with Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, the Parkers, Bruce, and even Vision to an extent as his family, Tony realized that what he’d had with the original team hadn’t been what he wanted or needed. He’d been run down making all their gear, under appreciated for funding the whole thing, and excluded from their general camaraderie. 

The past few months had been some of the best of Tony’s life, despite how busy he’d been with helping set up New Asgard and figuring out revised accords with the UN. He had workshop days and movie nights with Peter, date nights with Pepper, science-bros time with Bruce, and days spent screwing around with Rhodey when he had leave. Most days he didn’t even think about the old team. 

Yet now, after over a year, they’re coming back. 

The earth needs the rest of the Avengers, it’s true. The next time an Avengers level threat comes around Tony knows that he, Rhodey, Peter, Bruce, Vision, Strange (if he ever pokes his head out of his wizard mansion), the X-Men, and the NYC vigilante group calling themselves the Defenders might not be enough to stop it. 

But Tony certainly doesn’t need his old team in his personal life anymore, and he finally knows that’s a good thing. What they had before wasn’t good for him, he’s more stable mentally and happier now than he was before the Civil War. 

So what is he supposed to do now that they’ll be in his home again?

\---

That night while the rest of the compound is asleep Tony sits hunched at his work bench in the lab, dreading the morning. He came down here nearly half an hour ago and asked FRIDAY to pull up what’s become the usual feeds from Peter’s room. But instead of working Tony is just staring off into space, hands tangled in his hair. 

DUM-E and U whir at him sadly, the former hovering with it’s claw extended as if hesitant to touch or not. He’d moved the two bots to the compound when the Avengers moved upstate, and had been considering moving them back to the tower before everything started happening with the New Accords. 

“Leave me to my stewing Dum-dum. Go play in the corner with U alright? Let me have my breakdown in peace, you’re hovering worse than the kid,” he tells the robot.

DUM-E gives a whir of disagreement and scoots into his personal space, an action it’s recently picked up from said spiderling.

“I mean it, I’ll sell you for parts. Go on.” It’s an empty threat without any heat, and they both know that but DUM-E lowers its claw and slinks back to its sibling bot. 

Tony sighs, he knows they’re trying to help, but right now he just can’t handle anyone trying to improve his mood. He just needs to distract himself from all the volatile emotions swirling around in his head. 

Tony wants to be happy. All his hard work with the accords has paid off, they’re much better now, less restrictive and beneficial for all parties involved (he even managed to get in special clauses for vigilantes). His team is coming back, no longer criminals, ready and willing to defend the earth. But that’s just the thing.

They’re coming back. 

And he wishes he could be happy about that! But any joy is completely overshadowed by the hurt of betrayal and the anxiety of being near them again. Mostly Steve. His near death experience had him flinching slightly when any tall blonde man came too close for weeks afterwards. 

“Boss?” FRIDAY asks after a few moments, sounding tentative and concerned. 

“I’m fine FRI,” the engineer groans, pinching his nose. Great. All his kids are ganging up on him aside from the still sleeping Peter (who would definitely be leading the charge if he were conscious). 

“Bring up those files I started on the new drones that seek out and collect ocean pollution,” he tells the AI. 

He came down here to work and forget himself, not sit and stew so that’s what he’s going to do. Tony can’t imagine getting any restful sleep tonight anyway. 

FRIDAY pulls up the schematics he’s had to put on hold since it’s not high priority Avengers level stuff or marketable Stark Industries tech. He doesn’t want to make weapons or smartphones right now, he just wants to put effort into a project that will actually do some tangible good in the world.

For a while it works. Between drafting blueprints and AC/DC blasting in the background, Tony loses himself to the flow. As the hour grows later however, the intrusive worries and thoughts start to come back as a tension headache grows behind his eyes. He’s had less sleep over a week than this for sure, but all the anxiety with everything going on has the engineer feeling taut as a bow string. 

Nothing in particular triggers the panic attack. One moment he’s fiddling with his hologram schematics and the next he’s suddenly growing short of breath. The very familiar tightness is starting to clog up his lungs. He tries to fight it at first, slow breaths and calming techniques his therapist has drilled into him. Every coping mechanism his sleep deprived, panicking brain can remember. 

It’s not working. Nothing is. And that just makes the anxiety and fear worse, because he should be able to do this. He’s done it before. He just did it not two days ago. 

But his mind and body don’t care. 

God, Tony can’t _breathe_. 

That thought is really all it takes to send him completely over into the abyss. And then he’s in the thick of it, gasping for air as his chest constricts and his heart pounds like he’s running a marathon. God, he knows he’s not dying but his brain is just not convinced he isn’t and the irrational dread is suffocating. 

FRIDAY speaks from overhead sounding worried. “Boss, please let me wake Ms. Potts. You are-”

“Unless it’s an emergency- or something with Peter- mute FRIDAY!” Tony gasps out as panic makes his throat tight. 

Just like always it feels like he can’t get enough air into his chest no matter how much he sucks in. He should be trying to count again, or let his AI call someone down, but some sick part of him wants to ride it out. To hide behind thick walls and not let anyone know how much this shit is ripping him at the seams. 

It’s still slightly internally shameful for Tony to admit to himself, even with all the therapy, but he wishes Peter were here. 

Peter, who found Tony having a panic attack at 2 am one night months ago and took him to the living room where he put on _Austin Powers_ of all things. Peter, who made ridiculous comments about the equally ridiculous movie and sat with him until he brought Tony back to himself. His kid, who Tony never wanted to witness one of his panic attacks, and see once and for all that his hero worship is misplaced. The spider kid, who still never once looked at him with anything less than fierce love when the engineer admitted that to him. Peter, who hugged his mentor tightly when he promised Tony could always come to him, and that _Tony Stark_ would always be his favorite superhero, mental illnesses and all.

But Peter isn’t here. He’s trapped in a deep slumber, and he can’t help Tony this time. And maybe he doesn’t want it from anyone else right now, as unhealthy as that thought is. 

Tony’s vision wavers, and his gasping breaths sound like they’re coming from far away and then he’s not in the workshop anymore as the flashbacks hit him. 

All he can see is Cap’s shield coming down into his chest, breaking the arc, breaking his ribs and cutting into his skin, leaving him to die of injuries and exposure in Siberia. He sees Barnes choking the life out of his mother, who loved him unconditionally despite it all. Rhodey falling from the sky, his terrified grunts through the comms as he plummeted to earth. Even the wormhole and Obie make reappearances. 

He doesn’t know how long he spends trapped in the past before even the flashbacks start to go spotty and stop.

Tony’s head is full of nothing but static and panic in equal measure. He drifts with it for a long time, too exhausted to fight it. He lets the terror have his mind and body, chest aching and heaving while his mind is distant and wool stuffed. 

He exists like that for a while. 

Dizzy half formed thoughts tinged by panic and burning lungs, only vaguely aware of who he even is anymore. There’s nothing but the adrenaline in his blood and not enough air in his chest. 

It feels like it goes on for hours. 

Days maybe. 

Thankfully it has to end eventually one way or another, and it does, leaving Tony a gasping quivering mess as the adrenaline fades. 

He’s somehow ended up on the floor in his dissociated state. He manages to crawl his way back into his desk chair, but the effort does nothing to ease his aching limbs and lungs. The tension and anxiety leave him exhausted and he passes out slumped over his desk sometime after four in the morning. 

His nightmares pick up where his flashbacks left off, but with a wicked twist. It’s not his mom being strangled by the Winter Soldier but Pepper, she gasps and chokes and Tony can’t do anything but watch the video of the light fading from her eyes. Then he’s chasing Happy who’s in a de-powered suit falling to the ground, just like Rhodey did and Tony still isn’t fast enough to catch another friend. 

But the worst is when it shifts again and he’s back fighting Barnes and Steve in the bunker, because this time Peter is with him and naively determined to protect his mentor. Both of them are holding back, because Tony is fighting an old friend and the kid is too kind. And just like before, Steve and Barnes don’t pull punches. Suddenly Tony’s suit is dead when the Winter Soldier rips the arc reactor from his chest plate, and then Captain America pins the spider kid to the ground beneath his boot and raises his shield up high. 

The agonized scream as Peter’s ribs snap and his skin splits under the Vibranium shield has Tony jerking awake gasping with a strangled scream on his lips. 

He looks wildly around the workshop before he slumps upon seeing the still up feeds from Peter’s room and realizes with crushing relief that it was just a dream. 

_God_ he can’t do this. 

\---

The morning of the arrival of the Rouges is a tense affair, not helped by the fact that Tony slept horribly and woke up shouting from excessively traumatic nightmares. Rhodey took one look at him that morning and pressed his lips together. He took the engineer upstairs to fix him up with a big pot of coffee and a long embrace with his fiancée. They both offer to cook pancakes, a favorite of both Tony and Peter, but his stomach turns violently at the thought of breakfast and for once Pepper doesn’t force him. 

“It’s gonna be fine. We just have to get through the next few weeks with them and then we’ll be back in the city. I’ll see you for lunch,” Pepper sighs into his ear after another chaste kiss once she and Rhodey are done with coffee and breakfast. 

He doesn’t really know if he believes that but he nods anyway and buries his face in the crook of her neck. They stay like that until Pepper’s work cell goes off and she pulls away with a sigh and a pat on his cheek. Tony is really tempted to beg her to stay, but his nightmares reminded him that as formidable as Virginia “Pepper” Potts is, she’s even less safe around superpowered people than Peter is. 

After a shower that at least gave him some color back, Tony dresses in his signature cutting business casual attire that he wears like armor when he’s in the public’s eye. Including a pair of trademark dark shades to hide his eyes. As his father used to say, they always give him away, and he doesn’t plan to give his old teammates any advantage over him. Rhodey is dressed in military formal and Bruce even managed to drag a comb through his hair for once. 

They don’t have a lot of time, but before the old team gets here Tony wants, no, needs to see Peter for himself. Maybe it’s the nightmare last night, or that he hasn’t been in the kid’s room for over ten hours, or it could be that he honestly draws strength and courage just from the spiderling’s very presence. 

So with barely five minutes to spare, he slips into Peter’s room just as the morning shift nurse is leaving after having taken care of her patient. The kid has been shifted again, and Tony takes heart at the fact that he’s not on oxygen anymore. It’s not much but at least his O2 levels are normal now after nearly three days of no changes. 

Gingerly, Tony sits on the edge of the mattress and runs fingers through his kid’s hair. He stays like that for a while just gazing down at the peacefully sleeping teenager. Just like that, he can already feel his heart rate slow and his shoulders lose some tension. Peter is here and he’s safe, and Tony will keep him that way. 

Before he knows it though, FRIDAY is telling him that his five minutes are up in a hushed tone. 

“Hey kiddo, wish us luck today. I wish I could stay longer but duty calls,” he tells Peter softly as he stands again.

Par for the course, said spider kid sleeps on without a single twitch, just the very slow rise and fall of his chest. The hibernation thing really is unsettling, usually even in sleep Peter is always moving as if his inability to sit still follows him into slumberland. 

Tony, somewhat self-consciously as it’s something he’s only done once before, presses a quick kiss to the top of the oblivious spiderling’s untamed curls. With that he turns and heads for the door, holding onto the small amount of serenity that sitting with the kid gave him. 

“I promise I’ll be back to see you later,” Tony says, taking in one last look at Peter before he gently closes the door and heads for the roof. 

\---

Outside the winter sky is grey and overcast, and Tony can’t help but feel it’s fitting. He, Rhodey, Bruce, and Vision stand near the landing pad as the Wakandan ship touches down. Despite his mounting anxiety, Tony can’t help but admire the craft’s design and hope that with Wakanda opening itself up to the world more, he can get a look at their tech. But then all too soon what’s left of the Avengers cautiously make their way off the ship and the aircraft is the last thing on his mind. 

First comes Captain America himself, and Tony feels all his muscles tense involuntarily. Cap looks mostly the same aside from the scruffy beard, and that almost makes it worse. He looks fine even after having been on the run from one hundred and seventeen governments, while Tony feels like he fell apart and had to be stitched back together after Siberia. He’s very thankful for the sunglasses as his eyes dart quickly away from Steve.

Sam Wilson is next, looking hesitant and when he sees Rhodey he looks away guiltily. Even though Tony knows the two have talked a bit since the pardon and Rhodey doesn't blame him or Vision for the accident, Wilson can’t meet his eyes. Tony still blames himself for not being able to catch his best friend, so he can’t really begrudge the guy more than he already did with that repulsor blast. 

Wanda and Natasha bring up the rear, the super spy cool as a cucumber while the Scarlet Witch shifts agitatedly beside her, but she does smile when she sees Vision. 

Wanda looks the most haggard of the group, not surprising, as the media has not been kind to her. Which was one of the reasons Tony wanted her to stay at the compound and out of the public’s hateful eyes. He doesn’t like the witch and doesn't think he’ll ever be able to. Not after she messed with his head, and caused Bruce to Hulk out and hurt innocent people. All while willingly working with both HYDRA and Ultron, but that doesn’t mean he can’t sympathize. 

Having a mutated mostly orphan kid of his own to look after changed his perspective of the girl slightly. She was born a mutant and signed up for the experiments to strengthen her powers, so her situation is a lot different than Peter’s. But still, even with recent laws and protection put in place to protect them thanks to the Ross debacle, the public can still be unkind to mutants and mutates in general and Tony’s seen it weigh on Peter. 

Seeing Natasha again brings a stabbing pain to Tony’s chest. Of all the teammates that betrayed him, he knew Nat the longest. Worse, she had started on his side of the argument during the civil war and then double crossed him before running away. It’s not on the same trauma causing level of Roger’s betrayal, but it hurts in a different, less sharp, but deeper way. A way that reminds him far too much of Obadiah. 

Aside from Thor who is off in Norway with what’s left of Asgard, and Barton and Lang who have been with their families from plea deals, the old team is finally all in one place again. Thankfully for Tony’s mental well being and general sanity, James “Bucky” Barnes is staying in Wakanda for a good long time while he recovers from his years as an unwilling HYDRA assassin. 

For a beat they all just stare at each other, and it reminds Tony painfully of the moment before the airport fight before everything went to hell. Rhodey’s jaw is clenched, but he stands his ground while Bruce looks at the newcomers (particularly Natasha and Wanda) nervously, and Vision looks on, as impassive as ever. 

Across the roof Steve stands tall and proud with his arms crossed, even if his brows are creased with concern. Sam looks off slightly away and down as he stands next to Cap, while Natasha watches both groups with her ever unreadable expression. Wanda stares at them warily, her frown deepening when her eyes pass over Tony. 

Despite the whistling winter wind, the silence is suffocating. 

“Capsicle, you grew a beard! I almost didn’t recognize you, old man!” Tony finally greets unable to take the tension, falling back on the crafted cutting personality and stiff smiles he uses for the press. 

The one he had been starting to let his old teammates see past. 

Steve sighs and gives the ghost of a smile. “Tony… Hey.”

That seems to be enough of an ice breaker, because everyone starts to give their own tentative greetings. Rhodey and Sam shake hands, Natasha gives a warm hello to Bruce, and Tony even sees Vision and Wanda hug briefly out of the corner of his eye. Tony and Steve stand off to their respective sides watching the awkward reunions but not joining in. 

“What the hell are we standing around on the roof for? It’s ridiculously cold and we’ve got better things to do,” the engineer tells them after the tentative conversation dies off, more than ready to get this out of the way and get down to Bruce’s lab to help his kid. 

Tony turns on his heel and motions everyone to follow him. He feels relieved when Rhodey and Bruce subtly move to shield his back from the Rogues. The quiet, tense group of superheroes follow along and they all end up in the Avengers common room. 

Tony hasn’t been here since he trashed the place, preferring to stay on his own floor where the bitter memories of _before_ can’t haunt him. Besides, his own living room one floor up is full of happy memories he’s been making with Peter, Pepper, and the rest of his family anyway. He has no reason to go back to the old one and doesn’t want to. 

Someone, likely Pepper, had the common room cleaned up from when he destroyed it at least. That would have been awkward. 

Tony claps his hands once everyone gets seated on some of the couches spread throughout the spacious room. “Alright let’s get the not fun stuff out of the way, the new house rules. As you all know you’ve got a minimum of several months of parole in the compound and its grounds while we get everything sorted, unless there’s an Avengers grade emergency of course.”

All the Rogues nod, they’ve been briefed on their situations by T’Challa and people from both the US government and UN. Tony didn’t particularly want to house the Rogues in any building he still owns, but this is the Avengers’ compound and the UN insisted they be somewhere secure and out of the public eye. 

“My floor and lab are now totally off limits. Other than that feel free to wander the building and grounds to your heart’s content,” Tony tells them with an easy smile, and ignores the furrowed brows of Cap and Nat. 

Before, entrance to his floor had never been restricted entirely. Anyone could ask to come in and he could grant their entry or deny them. Now he doesn’t trust them enough to give them that privilege. His floor and lab are his safe spaces and the Rogues can deal. And he doesn’t want them seeing Peter and having too many questions either. 

“Your rooms still have all the same furniture in them and your stuff has been moved back to your rooms from storage. We’ve had a few remodels to the gym and such, but everything is in about the same place. The kitchen is stocked fuller than a grocery store before a blizzard, but if you need any supplies or have any requests let FRIDAY know and she’ll take care of it,” the engineer continues. 

Again the Rogues all nod, but Natasha and Steve are exchanging subtle glances and Wanda is still staring at him intently. 

“Alright, the first New Accords meeting is bright and early in the briefing room, some UN liaison will be here to negotiate the final terms of your signing. Any questions?” Tony asks after a beat, hands in his pockets. 

“No, Tony. I think…we’re good for now,” Steve says, looking him up and down with a pinched face as if getting a good look at him for the first time since Siberia, despite all Tony’s recent appearances on international television while working on the New Accords. 

Tony wonders what he sees, he’s changed a lot since the civil war after all.

“Well, let FRI know if you can’t find the TP supply or something. Brucie-Bear and I have a little project to check on so I’ll see you all later. Go ahead and get unloaded and all that jazz.” 

Steve stands up from his seat looking uncertain and worried. “Tony… We should talk. About what went down with-”

Nope. Tony is not opening that can of worms right now so he quickly and smoothly interrupts. “Later, Cap, later. You all just got here and are probably jet lagged and cranky. Besides, as I said, we’ve got a date with some important science that would go over your heads.” 

Bruce and he head for the elevator, FRIDAY already opening the doors for them. Turning his back on Steve Rogers still makes his skin crawl, but Tony suppresses the urge to shudder. 

“Tony-” Cap tries as the two scientists step onto the lift. 

“Bye Spangles,” Tony calls, giving him a cutesy wave as the elevator doors close in Steve’s shocked and exasperated face. 

“Oh God, that was so awkward. You felt it right? It wasn’t just me? Because you could cut the air with a fucking knife, hear a pin drop, whatever,” Tony babbles out as soon as the elevator starts moving. 

“It was tense Tony,” Bruce nods, letting out a slow breath, “Seeing Nat and...Wanda again.” 

The engineer slumps against the wall as he slips his sunglasses off. Oh God, the people who betrayed him are in his house, Steve Rogers, who drove his goddamn shield into the arc, into his _chest,_ and left Tony for dead, is going to be living in his home again. Along with Wanda who played with his mind like putty and Natasha, the assassin who stabbed him in the back. 

Even worse his kid is helpless, basically comatose just upstairs. 

“I need a drink. Or several.” Tony groans.

“Not that it’s not warranted, but Pepper would kill you. Besides, didn't you get rid of all your stashes in the compound months ago?”

He had. Between Pepper’s pleading and Peter’s presence in his life Tony had decided to wean himself off drinking a while ago. 

“Fine, then a cup of coffee. A really strong one, maybe with Red Bull in it,” the engineer grumbles. 

“Tony.” 

“Bruce.”

There’s a pause as they stare at one another with raised eyebrows. 

“I’ll tell Pepper,” Bruce threatens smugly. 

Tony gives him an overly dramatic betrayed look, hand on his chest and everything, which gets a little laugh out of the big guy. “Low blow, you just had to go there. Fine, no Red Bull.” 

“I was going to make some tea to calm my nerves if you wanted some,” his friend offers. 

Tony wrinkles his nose as usual when Bruce tries to get him to be healthier. “No thanks, I’m not much of a leaf juice person.”

The lights in the biochem lab flicker on as they walk in, illuminating rows of counters covered in equipment and lined with beakers, test tubes, and experiments in progress. It’s a space almost as big as Tony’s workshop where Helen, Bruce, and some of the SHIELD scientists conduct their work. And it also happens to be one of the most advanced and well funded labs of its kind in the world. Most of the medication and materials made here go towards the Avengers Initiative, but some of their tamer products end up going on the public market too. 

Tony wastes no time telling FRIDAY to pull up both Peter’s vitals and a livestream from the kid’s room. After a quick tea and coffee break both scientists suit up in safety gear, and Bruce pages Helen that they’re down in the lab and ready for her help if she’s not doing anything critical at the moment. In the meantime, the big guy pulls up his and Helen’s progress notes on the hormonal cure for the spider kid’s hibernation problem, along with his blood chemistry report, and plenty of references to the curious science of diapause and hibernation of animals. 

“Alright, let’s figure out how to wake a spiderling,” Tony declares, snapping his gloves into place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter wake up, your dad needs you!!
> 
> So there is going to be more bashing than I first set out with this fic, but nothing super mean or crazy out of character. The Rogues are going to make an effort in this to fix their shit and as much fun as it is to see in fanfic, Peter is probs not gonna just sock Cap for no reason. Maybe if he has one, lol. I do promise at least 2-3 people yelling at them tho. 
> 
> Tony’s big panic attack is taken straight from one of my own I had years ago. How Peter got Tony to come down from the panic attack at 2 am is an exact scenario that happened between me and my own father figure, except it was me having the panic attack and not him. I had never seen Austin Powers before and it was so weird, along with his coaxing it knocked me out of my panic. 
> 
> Also just wanna say, I don't hate Wanda or anything, but her and Vision are probably my two least favorite Avengers. I grew up with comic book/X-Men TV show Scarlet Witch so, uh, yeah not a huge fan. I also really did not like her motives or backstory in the MCU. Like at all. I want more diversity in the Avengers, but I just really don't like her as a person tbh. 
> 
> Sorry I benched Clint and Scott, but canonically they both do go off with their families and I just didn't want to handle that many characters. Also it makes the Ironfam and Team Cap more equal numbers wise. 
> 
> Anywho, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or stuff you think might be fun to see happen.


	4. Working for Warmer Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait enjoy a slightly longer than usual chapter.

Like clockwork Steve wakes up at 5 am, his body still following patterns from years and routines long past. When he blinks awake and catches sight of the familiar ceiling of his room in the Avenger’s Compound he just lies there taking it all back in for a moment. Then the supersoldier dresses with military precision and heads for the kitchen in the pre-dawn light. 

“FRIDAY, is anyone else awake right now that would like breakfast?” he asks the AI as he starts gathering ingredients for eggs and bacon. He’s not the best cook but even he can manage throwing things in a pan. 

“Not at the moment Captain Rogers, but I am sure they will be up soon,” comes the clipped reply from above. 

Steve sighs heavily at her tone. 

He won’t lie, being back in the Avengers Compound after over a year away is great for the most part. Most of the time while they’d been on the run had been spent keeping a low profile in Wakanda with T’Challa. The young king had offered help for Bucky out of the goodness of his heart so the least they could do was try to stay out of trouble and the public eye. Of course the team still went on missions here and there when they could, taking out remote HYDRA bases that popped up on their radar. 

The Wakandan countryside had been nice, but being back at the compound is a relief for the team after more than a year in hiding. It’s familiar and it’s home for most of them, having nowhere else to go. Not having to be constantly looking over their shoulders for government goons anymore while on missions is a bonus. 

The best part of being back however, is no longer being labeled criminals by the UN and US. It feels like a huge weight off Steve’s shoulders, although he still stands by refusing to sign the Sokovia Accords as they were. Even if most of the media outlets are still calling his group international fugitives and protesting their return, it doesn’t diminish the fact that they are finally back where they belong. 

Still, being at the compound is off putting in ways too. Steve can tell a lot has changed in the team’s time away. The building itself has had a few cosmetic renovations and is nearly deserted of general staff. In exchange there is an increase in SHIELD agents roaming the halls and labs. Not only that but from what he’s been seeing on the news the last few months, Steve is fairly certain Tony has mostly been staying in the city while they were gone.

The supersoldier wonders if it was too painful for the mechanic to be here after everything, and his guilt bubbles up slightly at that. He shakes the thought off and continues flipping the bacon. 

The worst part of being back is how much everyone at the compound seems to be avoiding his “Rogues”. Tony and his little team are no surprise of course, but even the SHIELD agents and staff give them a wide berth when they walk down the halls these days. Steve can’t deny the pit it makes in his stomach when they refuse to meet his gaze, or worse, the braver ones who send glares. 

There’s undeniable tension in the compound and it makes him nervous. Steve knows that everything that happened would have shifted attitudes, but knowing that and experiencing it are two different things. And if he’s a bit shamefully honest, he didn’t think that Tony had the loyalty of the staff and agents as much as he apparently does. Of course, most of them are on his payroll and the supersoldier can’t deny that Stark Industries has always treated its employees and contractors well. 

Steve frowns, pushing those thoughts back too while he pokes at the eggs and watches the sky start to lighten. 

The most notable change since they’ve been away is Tony himself. Steve hadn’t realized how open the engineer had been trying to be with the team before the Civil War, how much of the mask they got to see past. Compared to the rest of the team the man had always been a bit of lone wolf type, hesitant to join in on group activities and standoffish at times. Now however, Tony is as disinterested and aloof with them as he had been the first time they’d all met on the helicarrier before the Battle of New York.

It’s been two days since Steve’s team returned to the compound and Tony has been avoiding them like the plague. Aside from when the man shows up to the required New Accords meetings they never see him. Steve has seen Rhodes down in the gym working out a few times, spotted Natasha and Bruce talking quietly in the common room once, and of course noticed the way Vision has re-glued himself to Wanda’s side. 

But Tony seemingly never leaves his labs or personal floor. And there’s no doubt FRIDAY is playing guard dog, making it damn near impossible to even attempt to get to those places to force some sort of team bonding or heart to heart. 

Steve is trying to give Tony space. He gets it. What went down in Siberia was...bad. Steve knows the secret he kept is unforgivable. Still, he doesn’t regret fighting Tony off to save Bucky from going to prison (or worse), but he’s ashamed of what he did to the engineer all the same. Tony came under a truce to help them as a friend, and Steve beat him half to death and left him in a busted suit in the cold. Looking back on the fight, he knows he and Bucky went too far when Tony was clearly not giving it his all. 

Steve’s seen what the Iron Man suit can do and Tony was obviously holding back during both fights with his teammates. 

The two of them need to sit down and talk about what happened, no matter how much Tony doesn’t seem to want to. He’s clearly holding a grudge and that’s no good for team dynamics. If they’re going to work together on missions, they need to forgive and forget. They can’t rebuild trust and go back to the way things were before if Tony won’t let them in. 

When the sun is finally over the horizon, the rest of Steve’s team begins to trickle into the kitchen breaking him from his thoughts, drawn by the scent of breakfast. 

“Mornin’ Cap,” Sam mumbles, making a beeline for the coffee machine. 

Natash is not far behind, already dressed in sharp business casual and takes the plate Steve hands her with a small nod of thanks. 

“Good morning,” Wanda yawns as she stumbles in only a few minutes after Nat to take her place at the table.

Steve returns the greeting and places a piled high plate in front of the youngest member of his team. Wanda may not have his level of enhanced metabolism, but her mutant powers take a lot of energy all the same. At least being around Vision again seems to have started to improve her appetite. 

For a few minutes it’s peaceful as they all chow down and Steve finds himself beaming at the familiar scene. Hopefully soon the rest of their disjointed team can come back together, or at least he can convince Bruce and Vision to join in. He has a feeling Tony and Rhodes will be the hard eggs to crack. 

“We’ve got another meeting at 0800,” Steve reminds the group and they all nod.

Sam grumbles into his plate. “Hopefully it won’t take five hours this time.”

Steve winces. Nobody is enjoying the meetings and yesterday he and Tony had gotten into a civil, yet tense, debate about the wording of a few of the laws and had dragged the meeting out. He couldn’t help it. Even after all the work he’s likely put into getting the New Accords off the ground, Steve doesn’t know if he trusts Tony to handle the laws that will govern them. 

“The sooner this is all settled the sooner we can get back to work,” Natasha says barely looking up from her eggs. 

Steve nods. “She’s right. Let’s all just do our best to bear with it.” 

\---

Two hours later, the UN representative is droning on about a section of the Accords that’s all legal minutiae that Steve could care less about. He’s most vocal in their discussions when the subjects are about when the Avengers can deploy and treatment of enhanced teammates and prisoners. All the property damage laws and red tape go under his radar. 

So with his drifting attention Steve finds himself focusing on Tony who sits near the end of the conference table between Rhodes and Bruce. 

The man seems more centered, and the perpetual dark bags under his eyes are lighter than Steve has ever seen them. Tony also looks better in general, he’s put on a bit of healthy weight that he’d been lacking and his skin is less pale, like he actually sees the sun once and a while. Steve’s visions of Tony being an alcoholic mess by now were clearly unfounded. 

Something has changed. Steve heard that Tony and Pepper got engaged, it had been big news which had even reached them while in the remote Wakandan wilderness, but is that all it is? Even when the two had been dating Tony still drank (although not usually in excessive amounts) and barely slept or ate. 

Was a ring and a promise enough to change that, or is something else going on?

Steve can tell Natasha sees the changes too, but for once she doesn’t seem overly interested in investigating. But the supersoldier can’t help it. Aside from the changes in the man, Tony’s comment about his science project with Bruce has Steve worried. Just look at the last time the two had collaborated on a secret project together. 

_Something_ is going on, and it makes Steve uneasy. 

Unsurprisingly, Tony makes a hasty retreat as soon as the meeting is over, with a disinterested farewell thrown over his shoulder. Again, leaving no room for Steve to try to get him to sit down and talk. 

Steve just sighs and ushers his team upstairs for lunch. While they eat their sandwiches they discuss the New Accords and complain about the dull lengthy meetings. Everyone else seems relaxed for the most part. Still, the supersoldier can’t get his worries about Tony off his mind. 

After polishing off his third sandwich, Steve subtly scrawls a note on the side of his half finished crossword puzzle and slides it towards the center of the table for everyone to see.

“I could use some help with this.” 

_We should talk about Stark. He’s hiding something._

Sam and Wanda don’t say anything but they glance towards their resident spy expectantly. Natasha’s face doesn’t give away much, but Steve thinks he catches a downward twitch of her lips. She pulls the puzzle towards her and a few moments later it is discreetly slid back towards him. 

“Too easy Cap, you need to brush up on your slang if you want to finish these.”

_Not here. FRIDAY hears everything._

“You’re probably right. I think I’ve had enough being stuck inside. I might take a jog around the grounds, see the new landscaping. Does anyone want to come with me?” Steve asks casually after he’s sure everyone has seen the note.

“Yeah, just don’t go leaving me in the dust,” Sam huffs good naturedly. 

“I would not mind getting out,” Wanda says, clearing away their plates. 

Nat folds the crossword up. “I’ve got nothing better to do, besides I’m always up for a perimeter check.” 

They all head to their rooms for a quick change into athletic gear before meeting up at the elevator. Natasha leads them in meaningless casual small talk while they make their way onto the grounds. The SHIELD agents manning the front entrance watch them as they head out but don’t bother to speak with them. 

It’s cold but the sun is out and the brisk pace that Natasha sets warms the group up as they run. For a while Steve gets caught up in the rhythm of running as he and Sam trade banter and he could almost believe that everything is fine and the Civil War never even happened. 

For a little while he just lets himself pretend that the team isn’t in shambles. 

“Far enough, Nat?” Steve asks once they’re a good way from the compound, while still inside its grounds, and clear of anything that could possibly be hiding surveillance equipment. 

“Should be, but let’s not linger too long. I’m assuming this is about Tony’s change in behavior?” the spy asks as she stretches. 

“What else?” Sam scoffs, “He’s acting weirder than usual, don’t you think?” 

Wanda just frowns, but stays quiet. 

“He restricted us from his floors completely. It used to just be the lab, and even then we could ask to be let in,” Steve adds. 

Natasha pauses her stretches and shakes her head. “You’re just not used to him avoiding you so much, Steve. We hurt him and broke his trust, of course he put walls up.” 

“It’s more than that. Tony’s hiding something. He and Bruce are working on a ‘special project’ again. And, he’s...different. Something changed,” Steve argues, arms crossed. 

What Nat says bothers him. It’s true. As much as they didn’t get along most of the time, he’s not used to Tony basically pretending he doesn’t exist. Steve is surprised to find he doesn’t like it. 

“You think he’s working on something dangerous again?” Sam asks, trusting Steve’s instincts. 

“I don’t know, he could be. We have no clue what he’s been doing all day when he’s not at the meetings. I doubt he’s just sitting around watching movies,” the supersoldier says.

“He’s entitled to his privacy. It’s not like he ever had much of it with the way he grew up,” Natasha says, “I really think we should leave it alone. Tony’s an arrogant guy, but he’s also got a guilt complex the size of Mt. Everest. He won’t make another Ultron.”

“I do not like Stark, but I have not sensed anything alarming from him. If you find something bad I will help you, but I do not care about his personal life,” Wanda states sounding bored, before she turns and starts jogging back to the compound. 

The remaining group glances at one another. Steve rubs his forehead. That’s another thing that needs to be fixed. Wanda could care less about rebuilding the team now that she and Vision have been reunited and she’s not on the run anymore. Even before this whole mess she never liked Tony or Rhodes much, which again, isn’t great for team dynamics.

Steve sighs, missing his Howling Commandos more than ever. 

“We looking into it, Cap?” Sam asks, frowning at Wanda’s retreating back. 

“If you want trust, you have to give it. I’m telling you now you’d be better off to drop it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Natasha butts in before he can answer. 

With an I’m-watching-you glare sent their way, she finishes her stretches and starts jogging back to the compound. 

But Steve, ever the willful soldier, has never been very good at letting things go.

“Steve?” Sam puts a questioning hand on his shoulder. 

“We’ll look into it if I can’t get him to talk to me about whatever is going on with him in the next few days. I won’t chance another disaster like Sokovia,” Steve decides. 

He’ll give Tony an opportunity to come clean and if that doesn’t work he’ll take it into his own hands. 

***

Bruce puts down the beaker he’s holding and massages his forehead above his safety goggles. “I know I’ve said this about Peter’s physiology a thousand times, but this is truly bizarre. He’s hibernating like a mammal and won’t wake with warmth or sunlight, but the onset was triggered by the extreme cold and not a biological clock which is indicative of daipuse. It’s like a strange combination of the two.”

“At least his body didn’t start producing ethylene glycol like a spider, he would have been poisoning himself,” Helen says, not looking up from her notes and shaking her head. 

“Thank God,” Bruce mutters. 

“No kidding. Still, this is less weird than when we found out about his bones being partially chitin and the fact that he’s got blood _and_ hemolymph, but I’d really appreciate it if his spider DNA would stop showing itself in strange and upsetting ways,” Tony groans, “I’m really tempted to hack into Oscorp and see what the hell they were even trying to accomplish with genetically engineered radioactive spiders in the first place.” 

“As helpful as that would be, it's illegal,” Bruce warns lightly. 

“It’s not a bad idea,” Helen grumbles from her microscope, clearly frustrated with their slow progress. 

Bruce gapes at her and she rolls her eyes at him. 

“I could do it without even getting caught. Their security is shit. And I’m pretty sure Norman Osborn is an actual sociopath,” Tony adds, only half joking. 

The engineer can’t help but think how suspicious it is that Peter’s parents worked in biochemistry and genetics at Oscorp, the place where their son was turned into a mutate far more advanced than even Captain America. He’s not a huge believer in coincidences, especially ones this big. 

“Tony,” Bruce practically whines, sounding strained. 

The engineer huffs. “Fine. A project for another day then.” 

He’ll make a note with FRIDAY, it’s crossed his mind before but he’s feeling pretty serious about the hacking this time. 

Tony goes back to his Starkpad where he’s running simulations with FRIDAY on the work-in-progress hormone formula they have right now, testing it against Peter’s blood sample. He clucks his tongue when it comes up as only a 47% chance of being effective. The three of them agreed that anything below an 85% is unacceptable to attempt on the spiderling. 

He can’t deny that they’re getting frustrated though. It’s been three days since the Rogues got here, five days since he brought Peter to the compound, and six days since the kid fell asleep in the first place. Both Helen and Bruce say that if they can’t get a testable formula within the next few days they’re going to have to give the spiderling a feeding tube.

Which is obviously something none of them want to subject the Spider-Baby to, unconscious or not.

“Boss, Steve Rogers is asking for you again,” FRIDAY informs them suddenly, pulling the group from their research. 

Tony feels a vein throb at his temple. “For the love of… What does he want now, FRI? I told him I was busy the rest of the day.” 

The amount of times Steve has used FRIDAY to page him in the last few days is starting to give him a headache. 

“He wishes to speak with you about some of the sections of the New Accords and newly arrived missives from the UN. He’s stressing that it’s a pressing matter and he wants to speak privately, without the team or UN liaison.” 

“Yeah, no,” Tony scoffs. 

“He’s really insisting, Boss,” FRIDAY says a few moments later, sounding contrite, “He says it has to do with Barnes and Maximoff. He says he’ll go to Colon Rhodes or Ms. Potts to get answers if he has to.” 

“Fuck, don’t let him do that!” Tony almost shouts, scrambling out of his lab gear, “Tell him to hold his damn horses. I’ll be up in a few minutes.” 

Rhodey is busy with his government work and Tony doesn’t want Rogers on the same _floor_ as Pepper, let alone complaining to her. 

“Just talk to him for half an hour and come back. Make some excuse, I don’t care,” Helen says, swearing in Korean under her breath, “The sooner we get this done the better. We need all the brain power we can get.”

Tony grits his teeth. “I don’t intend to be there for more than five minutes if I can.” 

“Have FRI call Rhodes if you need back up. I’d offer myself, but well... Conflict resolution isn’t really my thing,” Bruce gives him an apologetic look. 

The comment surprises a snort out of the engineer and he gets onto the elevator without thinking too hard about what he’s about to do. He slips on his sunglasses and starts his breathing exercises preemptively, but that doesn’t stop his left hand from shaking as he rides the lift up towards the main floor. 

From what FRIDAY said, Tony’s got a pretty good idea of what he’s in for. 

This will be the first time he’s been alone with Steve since they were discussing the original Sokovia Accords. He doesn’t think Steve is going to be very happy with this discussion either. Tony shuts the thought out quickly. He’s worked up enough as it is. If he wants to get back to helping Peter, Tony needs to get through the talk he’s about to have and keep his head. 

Instead of letting it take him this time, Tony runs his anxiety against logic and all his coping skills. FRIDAY will be watching, she takes his safety very seriously and will send for help if anything happens. They’re in the Avengers’ Compound, not an abandoned HYDRA bunker. He’s got a whole lab full of suits just two floors below them. Barnes isn’t here. They aren’t chasing after a terrorist, just discussing some documents. 

This isn’t anything like Siberia. 

_Don’t think too hard about what he’s doing, just breathe and get it over with._

He can do this.

_He has to._

Steve is standing in the conference room, holding the thick book-like document that is the New Accords and what Tony assumes are the newly arrived letters from the UN with more details on the Rogues’ house arrests and pardons. He doesn’t look angry, but then again, Cap has never been one to lose his temper. He’ll get frustrated or irritated, sure, but like another goody-toe shoes mutate Tony knows, Steve rarely, if ever, lets himself fall into a true rage. 

“What’s the problem Capsicle?” Tony asks once he saunters into the room, tone dripping in snark to hide any nervous cracks. 

“Tony what is this? Are they serious?” 

Steve holds up one of the letters from the UN. It’s the one about James Barnes. Tony already knows what it says since he’s been sitting in at these New Accords meetings for months. 

“He’s cleared of all charges for everything he did with HYDRA and during our scuffle across international borders,” Tony tells him, his tone cold, “I don’t know what more you want, Cap.” 

Steve looks pained. “He’s a good fighter and a good man underneath the Winter Soldier, Tony. Bucky would make a good addition to the Avengers.” 

Tony takes a deep breath and tries to keep his expression neutral, even as a grimace tries to form. He fucking knew Rogers would have tried to get Barnes on the team. Why he would think that’s a good idea is beyond Tony’s substantial ability to understand. 

“Look, the UN wanted psych evals and background checks for all new recruits. Honestly, I agree with them. Most armed forces do it and we don’t need more loose cannons than we already have. It was hard enough to let us off without them as it is. Christ Rogers, we both know half the team wouldn’t pass a psych eval.”

Steve gives him a wide eyed lost expression. “But I told Bucky, once this was all sorted-”

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose.“Steve, did you even ask him what he wants to do, if he even wants to keep fighting? Does he want on the team, or do _you_ want him on it?” 

Tellingly, the supersoldier stays silent, looking down. 

“There’s literally nothing there that says you can’t see him, or get your own place nearby and move in with him once Wakanda gives him the all clear and you’re off parole. He’s a free man, he just can’t be on the team.”

“Tony, it wasn’t Bucky’s fault that-!”

The engineer snaps then, anger rushing to the surface at the same old argument. “This has nothing to do with my problem with Barnes! I didn’t decide this! I agree with it, yes, but it was the United Nations who decided, Rogers!”

For a moment it seems like Cap is going to fight back but he just swallows heavily and looks down again. Tony takes a deep breath and wrestles his anger and hurt back under control. Steve has never defended him so vehemently as he does Barnes. 

“I’m sorry but if you don’t like it you can take it up with the UN yourself,” he tells Steve with a much more level tone. 

That gets a spark of frustration in Steve’s expression and his mouth twists down, body taunt in a way that has Tony’s anxiety rising again. 

“Do I have to take Wanda’s case up with them too? They’re talking about years of house arrest, Tony! The rest of us were fully pardoned with parole, why wasn’t she?” Steve demands, shoving the letter across the table at him. 

“It’s the best she’s gonna get, Cap,” the engineer tells him with gritted teeth. 

Steve’s face turns hard then and Tony feels his heart rate jump. “Just because she’s a mutant-”

“Don’t give me that shit, Steve! I care about mutants _and_ mutates. My k-” Tony cuts himself off, nearly slipping in his sudden indignant anger, “I took down Ross for a reason, alright?”

Steve gives Tony his patented patriotic furrowed brow of disappointment, and the engineer has to hold back the urge to sneer at the expression. It’s so fucking condescending, and Tony is sick of it. All the anger at his old team that’s been hiding behind his fear is boiling to the surface. 

”This,” the engineer waves the letter in Roger’s face, his anxiety forgotten for the moment, “Isn’t about that and it wasn’t my choice. I did the best I could.” 

Steve scoffs and Tony nearly explodes. He remembers again how little they actually got along even before Ultron and the Civil War. He remembers Steve’s constant refusal to compromise, understand his logic, or think about the political implications of the Avengers’ activities. Not to mention his firm stance that Tony is irresponsible and can’t be trusted with the team’s best interests. 

“Wanda’s ex-HYDRA, and she wasn’t kidnapped and forced to fight for them like your pal. Quite a few of the UN reps wanted her to pay for her crimes, but I managed to convince them that she’s more valuable on the team than drugged half to death in a cell. As a compromise Fury suggested an extended probation like he did with Nat when she defected from the KGB,” Tony explains, trying desperately to keep his temper contained. 

The supersoldier frowns and looks down. “Wanda was barely a teenager when she joined HYDRA. It’s… She was...misguided, I know, but-”

The engineer holds his hand up for silence and slips his sunglasses off to meet Steve’s gaze. Tony breathes and does his best to channel Peter’s goodness, the kind of compassion that drives him to save even the villains he fights. He wants Steve to see he is sincere about this at least.

“I… I feel…for Wanda, okay? Even after everything. She’s young and she doesn’t have full control of her powers yet, and I know a magic doctor who can help with that by the way, but she knowingly made bad choices. She and her brother _chose_ to shack up with HYDRA, they _chose_ to fight and kill, they _chose_ to follow Ultron and terrorize cities.” 

Cap falls silent at that, his brows pinched, thoughts obviously conflicted. 

“We have to be held accountable, Steve,” Tony pushes, “Gods without rules are just monsters. It’s a few years of restricted freedom here while training with the team. Then she can have some real freedom and be cleared for missions. That or at least forty years minimum on the RAFT.” 

“I think...I want to appeal to the UN myself,” the supersoldier eventually manages. 

“Knock yourself out, Cap but don’t expect them to budge. Just talk to the rep at the next meeting yeah?”

Steve just frowns down at the letters again. 

Tony slips his shades back on, show of vulnerability over. “Anything else, Cap? I’m a busy guy with a schedule to keep.” 

The supersoldier snaps his eyes back up, something determined in the set of his jaw. “We have one more thing we need to discuss.”

Tony actually groans. “What else could you possibly-?”

“We need to talk,” Steve interrupts in that condescending tone, and Tony feels himself stiffen, “You can’t just keep running away from the rest of the team. I get it okay, Tony. I know what happened in Siberia went too far, but-” 

Tony feels like he’s just been punched in the throat. Is Steve seriously trying to do this now? After that high stress discussion they just had? And that’s the opening line he wants to start with?

“Rogers, I’m- I can’t do this right now, okay?” Tony is quick to interrupt, defaulting back to snark, “I’ve got too much shit going on at the moment for whatever half assed heart to heart you want to have. Besides, I’m pretty sure you already said everything you wanted to in that little letter you left for me.” 

“Tony, please, we need to have this out.”

“No. Nope. I literally don’t have the capacity right now. I answered your questions and I’m leaving. When I want to talk about what went down, I’ll come to you. Not before.” 

Steve gets up and the engineer feels his palms start to sweat when he moves to cut Tony off from trying to leave the room. “Tony, listen to me this isn’t good for team dynamics. You can’t just avoid-”

The engineer huffs out an unamused laugh. “Team dynamics have nothing to do with me, Rogers. Haven’t you been paying attention to the news? I’m semi-retired these days, an auxiliary Avenger.”

That gets Steve’s eyes to widen and his perfect posture to slacken slightly. “Are you serious?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Tony stresses, “I’m not going on missions anymore. I only get in the suit for Avengers level threats or emergencies. Ask Fury yourself if you don’t believe me.” 

The supersoldier looks a bit lost. “Why? Is this because of...”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tony sneers, only partially lying, “I’ve got better things to do than raid HYDRA bases. Like running my company and building gear for the UN.”

 _Or spend time with my family._ Tony adds silently. 

Now Spangles looks like he swallowed a lemon. Tony pushes past him as he stands there, nervous jolts running up his spine when their shoulders almost touch. But then he’s brushing past and heading for the elevator. 

“Something’s changed with you. Is it being engaged to Pepper or is something else going on?” Rogers asks gruffly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

Tony feels a spike of protectiveness go through him for Peter, even though Cap obviously doesn’t have a clue that the ‘something else’ is the kid Tony’s taken under his wing. He tips his sunglasses down so Rogers can see the steel in his eyes. 

“My personal life is none of your fucking business, so stay out of it. Only warning.” 

Then FRIDAY closes the elevator doors for him and carries him up and away from Captain Righteousness. 

All at once he slumps against the elevator wall, confidence drained away. His hands are shaking again and he fumbles getting his sunglasses off. In his chest his heart is still thudding, slightly arrhythmic ever since the arc reactor was placed and then removed. God he was just alone and _arguing_ with the man who betrayed him and left him for dead. 

Tony’s shocked he didn’t have a breakdown in the middle of it. 

He squeezes his eyes shut, counting breaths to head off an impending anxiety attack. He’s jolted out of it when the elevator suddenly stops moving and is mildly surprised when the opening doors show not the biochem lab, but Tony’s personal floor. 

“Uh, FRI, why are we on my floor?” he asks, voice a bit shaky just like the rest of him. 

“You did not specify a floor to be taken too, and I believe that spending some time with Peter may lower your elevated pulse and respiratory rate,” his AI informs him. 

Tony laughs a little, impressed and taken off guard by the scheming of his own creation. “You’re too smart for your own good, baby girl.” 

“I try, Boss,” FRIDAY says, sounding slightly smug. 

Peter’s room is just as warm and quiet as when he left this morning. Stepping inside feels like being wrapped in a familiar blanket. The dim lighting and the soft sounds of the kid breathing instantly start to calm Tony’s anxiety. 

“Hey kiddo,” he greets as he eases stiff joints to sit in the armchair next to Peter’s bed, “You’ll never guess what I just did.” 

As Tony quietly explains his day to the kid he takes Peter’s lax hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over the back of it soothingly. It’s become a bit of a habit over the last few days. He’ll come sit with the spider kid and tell him about what he’s been doing and their progress on waking him up. 

Tony knows for a fact that Peter, deeply asleep as he is, won’t process a word of it. But it makes Tony feel better, gives him an excuse to spend more time sitting with the spiderling. It lets him pretend that it’s just another day in the lab where he and Peter catch up on each other’s lives. 

“I could really use your upbeat attitude right now, kiddo. I don’t know how to be around the team anymore, not after everything. You sure picked one hell of a time to take an extended nap,” Tony murmurs. 

Just like every other time, the boy doesn’t so much as twitch in response and Tony feels a pang in his chest. 

He stays in the room for a time, slumping into the armchair next to Peter’s bed and watching the steady readout of the sleeping spider kid’s vitals. He’ll get back down to Bruce and Helen in a bit, but right now he lets himself decompress next to the reassuring presence of his spiderling. 

\---

After eight days of hibernation, with Bruce, Helen, and Tony working their asses off, the most successful of their test formulas is synthesized and ready to be injected into the sleeping spider kid. Right on time too. Assuming this works, Peter won’t need the nasogastric tube, which Tony knows from experience in Afghanistan is _not fun_. 

Bruce carries the capped 1 mL miracle syringe and Tony is practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation as they ride the elevator from the biochem lab to his private floor. The doctor is watching his mounting excitement and smirking, but Tony doesn’t even care. 

Helen would be there too, but she’s having a well deserved sleep after her breakthrough on the formula and subsequent sixteen hour work binge to get it done. Tony had also let May, Pepper, and Rhodey know that they were going to test their cure, and all three had been relieved after the last few days of minimal progress. 

As soon as they’re in Peter’s room, Tony sits gingerly on the edge of the kid’s bed while Bruce unscrews the tubing connecting Peter’s IV to the saline and nutrient dips. 

“Okay, here’s to hoping,” the doctor says, holding up the small plastic syringe full of clear liquid.

He cleans the port of Peter’s IV and screws the syringe into it. Very slowly, he pushes down on the plunger, watching the kid’s vitals as the synthesized hormones enter his system. After about ten minutes of silently monitoring, Bruce blows out a breath. 

“Good, if he was going to have a bad reaction to it, he most likely would have had one by now. We’ll still have to be cautious for at least the next two doses, but that’s a good sign.”

“That’s great and all, but is it actually working?” Tony asks impatiently. 

“He should rouse soon, give it a bit more time. Assuming it works, Peter probably won’t be able to stay awake very long at first. Not until we get a few doses into him. And he’ll probably be a little disoriented when he first wakes up too, just to warn you.”

They sit and watch as the kid’s vitals start to gradually pick up. His heart and respiratory rates rise slowly to more normal levels and brain waves shift into shallower states of sleep. Tony is practically holding his breath in anticipation as he waits. Then finally, after nearly twenty minutes, Peter finally shifts as he starts to come to. He whines softly and curls in on himself slightly, before stretching a bit. It reminds Tony of a cat just waking up and an amused smile tugs at his lips. 

“Pete? You gonna join the land of the living?” he asks softly, a hand on the kid’s shoulder. 

“T’ny?” the spiderling slurs questioningly, his nose adorably scrunched up. 

Tony full on grins, Peter’s sleepy voice one of the best things he’s heard all week. “Yep, the one and only. Underoos, let’s see those Bambi eyes of yours. FRIDAY, lights at twenty-five percent.”

Peter groans but does crack his eyes open after the lights dim. When the kid’s gaze locks onto him with sleepy awareness, Tony practically wilts in relief as the anxiety and stress he’s been carrying since Peter passed out on that rooftop vanishes. 

“There you are,” the engineer sighs happily, straightening some of the kid’s more wild curls in an extremely parental manner that makes Bruce smirk. 

“Five more minutes, ‘m tired. Why’re you wakin’ me up?” Peter mumbles into his pillow. 

Tony’s voice is a bit strained when he speaks, despite the humor he tries to insert. “Kid you’ve been hibernating for eight days. I think you’ve slept long enough.”

That gets the spider kid to wake up properly. “I-? What?!”

Peter blinks rapidly rubbing at his eyes, wincing at the tug of the IV catheter in his arm and tries to sit up. Tony is quick to push him back down flat onto the bed, and although the kid is way stronger than him, he lets Tony press him back into the mattress. 

“Not too fast Spider-Baby, give yourself a sec. We’re still watching your vitals.”

Peter squints up at him, gaze still a bit foggy looking very lost. “You said I was...was hibernating?” 

“Apparently there’s more to the thermoregulation problem than we thought,” Bruce interrupts apologetically, and Peter whips his head to him in surprise. 

“The fact that spider kids hibernate when they get too cold to be specific,” Tony says, shooting for teasing but not quite hitting the mark, “You scared the shit out of me when I found you almost non-responsive on a roof with a core temperature of 94, kid.” 

Peter looks away, guilty and stricken as the memory seems comes back to him. “I’m so sorry Mr. Stark. I, well…I thought I could make it to the tower, and I did call you…”

“I know, kiddo. I’m glad you did and the only thing you need to be sorry about is that you didn’t call me right away.”

“Does May know?” Peter asks after a beat of silence. 

“Of course she does,” the engineer scoffs, “You think I wouldn’t tell May her kid was taking an extended cat nap?” 

The kid bites his lip, it’s his most obvious nervous tell. “How’d she take it?”

“In stride for the most part. She wanted you to call her when you got up, and no she’s not mad, just worried like the rest of us,” Tony says as he gives Peter’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 

“Okay cool. I-Is this... This is my bedroom at the compound?” the spiderling questions, finally taking in more of his surroundings as he rubs more sleep out of his eyes. 

“Sure is. Let Bruce take a look at you, and then I’ll explain what you’ve missed,” Tony deflects for the moment. 

“How are you feeling, Peter?” Bruce asks kindly, coming closer. 

The spiderling’s face scrunches up slightly as he thinks about the answer, then his eyes go wide. “Like I really need to pee.” 

Tony snorts and Peter turns a bright shade of red while Bruce hides a smile behind his Starkpad. 

“Well, you’re clear to go to the restroom with some assistance,” the doctor assures. 

Tony smiles fondly as Peter turns an even darker shade. “Alright kid, let's get you up.”

“I-I’m good, really, I don’t need help. Besides, your- you know, your back-” Peter sputters as Tony loops an arm around his waist and helps him up. 

“Please kid, your spider-butt weighs eighty pounds soaking wet I think I’ll manage,” Tony snorts as he tugs the kid along, taking most of his proportionally feather light weight. 

“You good?” Tony asks once the kid is steady on uncoordinated legs. 

“Yeah, I’m just real stiff is all,” the kid mumbles. 

After Peter gets his feet under him, Tony assists him to the attached bathroom and back once business is taken care of and hands are washed. The kid’s uncharacteristically sluggish in his movements in a way that has Tony concerned. 

“Okay now that that’s taken care of, how are you feeling Peter?” Bruce asks once Peter is settled on his bed again. 

“Um, tired I guess?” the kid yawns widely, “Groggy, and sort of out of it? I feel like I could go back to bed right now.”

“Nuh-uh, don’t even think about it kid you literally just woke up,” Tony vetoes, wagging a finger at him. 

“That’s probably normal, you’re likely going to need a few more doses of the hormones before that feeling goes away. We forced you awake suddenly and most hibernating animals wake gradually in stages,” the doctor tells him ruefully. 

“So I was seriously asleep for eight days?” Peter asks looking up at his mentor with wide eyes. 

“Yep, and everyone was stressed the hell out while you took your little nap,” Tony affirms. 

Peter looks slightly pained. “I’m sorr-”

Tony cuts him off. “Don’t even start, Pete. Not your fault your mutated DNA hates the cold. This would have happened sooner or later, and at least we’re nipping it the bud. After we fix you up, you and Brucie are gonna find a more permanent solution to your winter weather problem.” 

Bruce asks a few more questions to gauge Peter’s mental state and finding no issue moves on to the physical exam. Peter squirms the whole time, insisting he’s fine before a sharp no nonsense glare from Tony shuts him up. Aside from the fatigue and stiff muscles the doctor finds nothing seriously wrong. He does pull three more vials of blood from the kid’s IV for tests on how the newly introduced hormone is affecting his system, though. 

“I don’t really know how many hours of consciousness that first dose got us, so you should eat something before you fall back asleep,” Bruce tells them once he’s finished, “Liquids for now, we’ve been giving you IV nutrients but you haven’t actually put food in your stomach for days so we need to go slow.” 

“Can we..? Can you, ya know?” the kid gestures to the intravenous catheter in his arm and looks up at Bruce with pleading eyes. 

“I know you don’t like the IV Peter, but considering you’re going to need a dose of the hormones every 12 hours for the next few days it should preferably stay in. It can’t be a pill and it can’t just be a shot into muscle or fat, it has to be intravenous,” Bruce explains looking apologetic. 

The kid looks at the catheter with a pout, clearly trying not to pick at it. “I dunno…”

“Up to you Underoos, keep the slightly uncomfortable plastic straw in your arm for a few more days or get a needle in your veins every twelve hours,” Tony rolls his eyes. This kid. 

“I’ll keep the straw,” Peter assures swiftly. 

Tony smirks. “Thought so.”

Bruce chuckles a little. “I’ll get you some heat packs for it in a bit, it’ll help with the irritation.” 

“Thanks, Dr. Banner.”

“It’s no trouble Peter, I’m glad to see you conscious again,” Bruce pats the kid’s arm as he shuffles out of the room. 

“So the compound, huh?” Peter asks, turning to his mentor. 

“Well, Bruce and Helen’s labs along with all their equipment are here, so yeah.”

The kid frowns, looking thoughtful. “If it’s been over a week and we’re here then that means… The Rogues!” 

“Are here yeah,” Tony grimaces. 

Peter looks up at him horrified and the engineer rushes to reassure. 

“Don’t worry Spiderling, they can’t get up here or down into the lab, and they have no clue you’re even here. FRIDAY’s got it all under control.” 

“I’m not worried about me, Mr. Stark!” Peter gasps, “Are you okay? How long have they been here? Have they been causing trouble? Are they refusing to sign the New Accords? ‘Cause I’ll fight them again if I gotta, Mr. Stark. Do I need to steal Captain America’s shield again? Or wait, you still have it. I could-”

Tony cuts the kid’s rambling off with a crushing embrace. “I missed you, Pete.”

“Well, uh, it feels like it’s been less than five minutes to me, but I missed you too, Mr. Stark,” Peter mumbles into his chest, bringing his arms up and hugging his mentor back tightly. 

“Just… Don’t worry about Cap and them right now. All that matters to me right now is your recovery.”

Letting out an unsure noise, the kid sinks further into the embrace. “...Alright.”

With a sigh, Tony cups the back of the spider kid’s neck and just basks in the feeling of holding his child close again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer partially because I didn’t know exactly where I was going and also because I had to write from Steve POV which was hard for me to do tbh. Like, I’ve written paragon type characters before but the MCU changed him a lot from his standalone movie (and the only movie I liked him in) so…struggle bus. The other part was just irl stuff. 
> 
> I like, kind of hate 60% of the chapter ngl. I just want to get to soft bits and then Peter doing the bashing. Next chapter is going to be tough too since I have a few different options for how and when Peter could be discovered. So if anyone has any suggestions for that I'd love to hear your thoughts. I also have like...literally 9 WIPs for spiderson fics including a 5+1 and so many AUs. 
> 
> As always thanks for reading!
> 
> [ Come yell with me on tumblr ](https://pogowrites.tumblr.com/)


	5. Getting Guidelines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Slaps fic* This bad boy can fit so much wish fulfillment for parental affection. 
> 
> I’m gonna ignore the end part of The Incredible Hulk where Tony speaks with Ross because let’s be honest, who actually watched that anyway (it's barely part of the MCU)? He and Ross have only met in passing before the Sokovia Accords for the fic. I don’t like how Banner was portrayed for most of the MCU (usually the butt of the joke and nothing else) anyway so Imma do what I want. 
> 
> I also realized that at the end of AoU Tony basically resigns from the Avengers and I was like, oops but oh well, let’s just say he pulled back but still went out with them here and there before the Civil War.

“So I’m staying here? With you?” Peter asks timidly from where he’s still squished against his mentor’s chest.

Mr. Stark sighs, sounding exhausted. “Yes, even though I didn’t want you within ten miles of Captain Killjoy and his compatriots. You’re stuck at the compound for the foreseeable future until we get a medical all clear and some heated long johns.”

Peter grins up at him, pleased to be able to spend so much time with his mentor. He’s stayed weekends with Mr. Stark both at the compound and tower, but never more than two or three days at a time. Not to mention he’s here while the Rogues are. Exactly like he wanted. Now Mr. Stark _has_ to have him here, so Peter can be moral support just as he’d planned!

“Ah-ah-ha! Don’t get too excited, I have some conditions,” his mentor warns, “First, you stay on my floor or in my lab where none of the Rogues can get to. And that includes no going outside, not even the balcony. Any exposure to the cold right now could cause you to relapse.” 

On one hand it’s going to make Peter a bit restless being restricted to only two floors of the compound (he loves the obstacle course Mr. Stark built for him on the ceiling of the gym), but on the other hand he doesn’t really want to run into the Rogues either. Once upon a time he would have been excited to be around them, and he was in Germany. 

But that was before Peter saw the suit recordings from Siberia when he was snooping through Mr. Stark’s files about a month after Homecoming. FRIDAY had saved the recordings from the Iron Man suit HUD, the security cameras in the bunker, and the video that showed the brutal murder of Mr. Stark’s parents. 

Peter had been in a state of shock at first, his hero worship of Captain America and his followers shattered. A burning fury had taken its place instead. Not quite the wildfire fury that had compelled him to first go out as Spider-Man and hunt down his uncle’s murderer, but hot coals that sat simmering in his gut. Captain America wasn’t a hero. He was a selfish villain who almost killed Mr. Stark after everything the man had done for him and didn’t care about the lives or property of civilians, all while his followers turned blind eye to his misdeeds. 

Peter had gotten rid of half of his Avengers merchandise and never told Mr. Stark what he’d seen, well aware that his mentor didn’t want him to know. 

“Fine.”

Mr. Stark raises a threatening eyebrow. “I mean it Peter.”

The teen throws his hands up in exasperation. “I agreed!”

“FRIDAY will be watching you,” his mentor tells him with narrowed eyes, “Got that FRI? Peter doesn’t leave those two floors unless there’s an emergency.” 

“Understood, Boss,” the AI affirms. 

“Number two you have to do all your make up work before you can come down to the lab,” Mr. Stark continues. 

“I have make up work?!” Peter exclaims.

“Yeah kid, you missed a week of school and are about to miss at least four or five more days. May had your teachers email all your stuff. You’re out with a terrible case of pneumonia, by the way,” Mr. Stark told him with a slight smirk. 

Peter nods. “Yeah I used to get it a lot as a kid, with all my lung problems.” 

“Glad we don’t have to worry about that anymore, Spiderling,” his mentor says ruffling Peter’s hair, “Alright final condition, you are going to be a model patient for Bruce and Helen, none of the usual whining and insisting you’re fine. Let them do what they have to.” 

“I don’t-”

“Kid, you literally just did it with Bruce,” Mr. Stark interrupts. 

Peter glares down at the floor for a moment. He hates being poked and prodded and watched over like he can’t be independent. He just doesn’t want anyone to worry about him or waste time on him when he’s _fine_. But the teenager can tell he really freaked Mr. Stark out this time, and well, he doesn’t mind the fussing if it’s his mentor or May. 

“...Fine.”

“Good. Now that we’ve got our ground rules lets get you showered and fed while you’re still conscious,” Tony says as he helps Peter up and out of bed again. 

Bruce comes back then with a plastic bin of single use heating packets. He helps Peter wrap the area around his IV catheter in a cut up plastic Ziplock and waterproof tape to protect it from the shower. Mr. Stark helps him shuffle into the bathroom and insists that he’s going to wait outside the door, and Peter is secretly grateful even as he rolls his eyes fondly. 

In the shower steam Peter’s thoughts finally turn to actually processing what has happened since the last time he was conscious. One minute he was calling his mentor for help, afraid of freezing to death, and the next he’s waking up upstate over a week later. Oh, and the Ex-vengers are here. Can’t forget that little development. He feels a bit like he has whiplash. 

Is this what people waking up from comas feel like? 

Peter can’t believe that he was seriously sleeping, no, _hibernating apparently,_ for eight days. He’d think Mr. Stark was messing with him if it weren’t for his obvious relief that Peter is up, and the overprotective hovering that always comes when he gets hurt or sick. But really, hibernating? Peter guesses it’s slightly less freakish than _the literal bug juice and bones inside him_ , but it's still totally crazy. 

Peter tries not to take Flash’s insults of “freak” to heart, and it’s not like the bully actually knows about Peter being a mutate. But some days he really does feel like a freak. Especially when his bizarre anatomy does shit like this. He tries not to dwell on thoughts like that much. Not since Mr. Stark sat him down and reassured him, vehemently, that he wasn’t a weird monster when Peter had expressed the sentiment to his mentor.

But this development is pretty insane, even for Peter’s life. 

A yawn reminds him that he’s on a time limit and Peter is quick to finish up his shower with sleep stiff limbs. The instant he’s out and dressed Mr. Stark subjects him to the hair dryer and practically burritos him in a heated blanket. Peter would usually protest the painfully loud hair drying session, but he can tell Tony is anxious and the mother-henning keeps him distracted. Plus, not that he’ll admit it, but he was chilly with his wet hair. 

“Can we go to the living room to eat?” Peter asks, wiggling his arms out from where they’re practically pinned by the blanket to rub his eyes. 

“Sure, kiddo,”Mr. Stark says, and Peter grudgingly lets his mentor support him as he stumbles down the hall.

The hibernation thing has made his body annoyingly sluggish and clumsy. On top of that, the sleepy fog in his head isn’t great either. It makes him a bit nervous, not being in top form. How can he protect Mr. Stark from his old teammates like this? Usually they would be no match for him (aside from the Scarlet Witch’s magic), because Peter knows for a fact that he dwarfs Captain America in both physical strength and speed by a wide margin. But as he is now just coming out of hibernation...

Peter’s dragged from his contemplation when his mentor plops him down unceremoniously on one of the couches in the sitting room. 

Mr. Stark’s living room is smaller than the one on the Avengers’ floor, but it’s much cozier and more lived in. Pepper’s soft throw blankets are draped over the backs of the three sofas, the latest editions of Tony’s favorite scientific journals crowd the coffee table, Rhodey and Happy’s DVD collections are shelved neatly by the TV, and Peter’s hammock is hung in the corner near the high ceiling where he likes to crawl up and read comics. 

It’s not the same as the Stark Tower penthouse living room, but it’s still one of Peter’s favorite places in the world. As such he’s more than content to burrow into the plush sofa, still wrapped in the soothing warmth of the heated blanket. He closes his eyes and sighs in contentment. 

Mr. Stark snorts and taps the crown of his head as he walks past. “Don’t fall asleep, I’ll be right back. I've got something for you I need to grab. Have FRI put on a show in the meantime.”

Peter murmurs an agreement and tells the AI to put on the first season of _Stranger Things_ , hoping the suspenseful atmosphere will help keep him awake. Only a few minutes into the show, Mr. Stark returns with a small black box in his hands and sits down next to Peter. 

“I was gonna wait ‘till Christmas to give you this, but I think it would be better to just give it to you now,” Mr. Stark says, handing him the box. 

Peter looks up at his mentor curiously before sitting up and opening it. Inside is a Starkwatch, a model that isn’t even on the market yet. It’s far more subtle and slim than the one Flash was showing off at school. Peter gapes up at Mr. Stark to find the man smirking. 

“Mr. Stark you didn’t have to-” Peter starts and is immediately cut off. 

“I wanted to. This a custom made Starkwatch, kid. No take-backsies, you’re keeping it.”

His mentor takes the watch out of the box and fastens the black wristband to Peter’s left wrist in a snug fit. As the teenager turns the device on, eager to try it out despite feeling a bit guilty at the expensiveness of the item (geez this is the new Starkphone all over again), Tony pulls out his cell and starts swiping through it. 

“Looks like it’s in working order,” his mentor says after a moment, holding up his Starkphone for Peter to see the app he has loaded up on it. 

It’s obvious by the familiar interface that it’s a custom app Mr. Stark has designed. Displayed is a set of changing lines and numbers that Peter immediately realizes is a readout of his own vitals, and he looks down at the watch again. 

“Aside from the biometrics monitor, it’s got a panic button on the side here, and a lot of other cool stuff including your AI,” his mentor explains, “Karen?”

“Hello Mr. Stark. Peter, it’s good to know you’re recovering, I was worried when you fell unconscious,” his AI greets. 

“Whoa…” Peter says in awe as his AI speaks through the watch, “Oh, um, I’m sorry I worried you Karen.” 

“It’s alright Peter, just be more careful next time. If you need me, just call for me or you can text my system from the watch.” 

“This,” Mr. Stark grips the Starkwatch on Peter’s wrist and gives it a little shake, “Stays on. Even when you’re swimming, it’s waterproof.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say there’s a locator in here too,” the teenager guesses and smirks a bit. 

Mr. Stark shrugs in a nonchalant way that Peter knows by now is for hiding nerves.

“What can I say? I get paranoid when I can’t keep track of things that are important to me. Besides, now you match with me and Pepper, and I know she’s, to quote you, ‘the most badass person ever’. Which, can I just say kid, it’s true, but since I _am_ your mentor you should at least pretend that I’m the most badass.” 

Before the Vulture, Peter might have taken this as Mr. Stark thinking he couldn’t handle himself. That he thought Peter was a child that needed to be looked after constantly like a toddler. But he knows better now. This, like the Iron Spider, is one of the ways Tony shows that he loves Peter, wants to protect him, and is terrified to lose him. 

“Thank you, Tony,” Peter says warmly and hugs the engineer. 

Mr. Stark sighs in relief and returns the embrace with ease. “I’m serious, kid. Consider that glued to your arm indefinitely. FRIDAY is gonna be watching your vitals and temperature through that while we figure this thermoregulation thing out.”

“I will. Promise.” 

“It’s not a one way street either,” his mentor says when he breaks the embrace.

He hands Peter his own phone, having downloaded the same app onto it. “Here, you can see Pepper’s and I’s vitals and location too, just like we can see yours.”

Peter takes the phone and clicks through the app. Sure enough, there’s Mr. Stark’s slightly irregular heartbeat along with other vitals and his exact GPS location. The teenager smiles down at the phone then up to his mentor. He won’t lie, it makes him feel a lot better to know that he can find Mr. Stark anywhere if he needs help. 

Clearly done with vulnerability for at least a few hours, his mentor just squeezes Peter’s shoulder and clears his throat. “Come on kid, let’s get some real food in you. Soup or smoothie? I know Pep still has some stuff lying around to make miso.” 

“Soup sounds good. You eating too?” Peter asks. 

“Sure, why not? You should call your aunt in the meantime.” 

Peter blanches, but nods all the same. While Mr. Stark heads to the kitchen to cook, the teenager calls May. His aunt gushes about how worried she was and how glad she is to hear his voice. She tells him she’ll be up to see him as soon as she can get a shift off and makes him promise to behave for Mr. Stark. Peter just thanks whatever few lucky stars he has that May isn’t mad at all. 

Not long after he hangs up, Mr. Stark returns with two steaming bowls of miso. Peter forgoes the spoon and simply slurps from the bowl, too hungry to bother with utensils. Mr. Stark gives him an over dramatic look of horror and disgust which makes Peter snort into his soup, splashing it all over his face and making his mentor laugh loudly.

He grudgingly lets Mr. Stark wipe his face while the man teases him for making such a mess. “You’ve been up for maybe an hour and a half and you’re already a disaster, Spiderling.” 

“It’s a talent,” Peter quips back. 

“You’re ridiculous.”

Soon the soup is gone, Peter having eaten most of it, and the two relax on the couch for a while only half watching the show. The teenager burrows further into his blanket and curls up against Mr. Stark’s side. His mentor easily throws an arm around him and Peter is more than content to lean against him while he catches up on texting his friends and seeing what he missed on social media. 

They spend maybe an hour or two like that, relaxing as Tony catches Peter up on how everyone’s been and the day to day things he’s missed (but refuses to speak about the Rogues at all, much to Peter’s frustration). Eventually Mr. Stark’s fingers migrate into Peter’s untamed curls and start playing with them. That combined with his full stomach and the heated blanket is quickly lulling him back to sleep. 

“Sleepy already, kiddo?” Mr. Stark asks as the teenager is just starting to doze, and it takes a moment for the question to register in Peter’s fuzzy mind. 

“Mhmm,” he hums. 

The fatigue seems to be growing by the minute, weighing him down more and more. It feels like he stayed up too late or patrolled too hard. He’s exhausted all of a sudden. There’s almost a drug like quality to the feeling. 

“Well at least we got some real food in you. Come on, back to bed for the Spider-Baby,” his mentor teases.

“Not a baby,” Peter grumbles into the couch cushions, the words coming out sleep slurred.

There’s a snort and then strong arms are lifting him up, blanket and all. “Sure.” 

Peter forces his eyes open a bit to glare sleepily at Mr. Stark from where his head is lolling against the man’s chest, but it’s too much effort and he sinks back into a half doze again. Peter doesn’t want to go back to sleep yet. He wants to keep watching TV with Mr. Stark and get started on his make up work. But his eyelids are just so heavy and his thoughts are thick and slow with sleepiness. 

He’s so tired, his brain is turning to mush but Peter’s worried about his mentor. 

There’s something bad at the compound. Peter can’t quite remember what, though. All he knows is he needs to stay awake so Mr. Stark will be safe. Peter lets out a frustrated noise and tries to fight the tired feeling more. It’s not working very well. He can’t even get his eyes open again, body relaxing against his will like he’s been given the good meds Dr. Banner made for him. 

Someone shushes him and he’s set down on a bed he vaguely recognizes as his own by the familiar scents. “It’s alright Bambi, I know you’re tired. Go ahead, I’ll be fine while you nap.”

“Promise?” the teenager manages, barely awake, barely knowing what he’s asking.

But he knows it’s important. 

A hand flits through his hair. “Yep. I’ve got a lot of people looking out for me.”

“M’kay,” Peter relents and lets himself drift off. 

*** 

Tony sighs as he shuts the door to Peter’s bedroom, fond smile on his lips. Bruce was right about the first dose giving them only a handful of hours. Still, it was a huge boost to the engineer’s mood to have his kid up and about after over a week of basically being in a coma. He can’t say it wasn’t upsetting and a bit anxiety inducing when the spiderling fell back into his hibernation state so quickly, but the formula _worked_. A few more doses and a lot of time with the heated blanket and he’ll be back to his energetic self.

For now though, Peter will sleep. And in the meantime, Tony has work to distract him.

He video calls into an SI board meeting with Pepper for an excruciatingly boring hour and a half, catches up on more emails, and signs off on a few product designs for R&D. All the while keeping an eye on Peter’s vitals through his new watch. And God, Tony should have given it to the kid ages ago, it’s a huge relief to be able to calm his anxiety by a quick check through the app. He doesn’t even have to ask FRIDAY, it’s all right at his fingertips. 

It’s a few hours before Tony manages to convince himself to take a break and head down to the biochem lab for an update from Bruce on Peter’s new blood work. With any luck Bruce has already figured out how to make the hormone treatment more effective. 

As he steps into the elevator FRIDAY clears her virtual throat. 

“Boss, Ms. Romanoff is currently in the lab with Dr. Banner.”

Tony grimaces. He knows that Bruce and Natasha have been talking out their relationship issues and attempting to fix, at the very least, their friendship. Tony doesn’t have a problem with it, and sincerely hopes that they can make something work if that’s what they want, but that doesn’t mean Tony’s ready to fix _his_ issues with the assassin. 

Still, Natasha was the only one besides Bruce from the original team Tony felt he was genuinely friends with. Rogers and he never really got along and Barton’s “playful” jabs always had too much of a sharp edge towards him. Natasha at least had been the peacemaker of their volatile group and a level headed second in command to both Tony and Steve. 

Maybe someday he can at least trust her as a co-worker again. But he needs more time, and proof, that he can put his faith in her let alone give her his friendship once more. For now though, the betrayal and parting jabs are still sore and raw even after over a year. If she hadn’t let Steve and Barnes go, Rhodey’s injury and Tony’s near death in Siberia might not have happened at all. 

The engineer sighs, quirking his lips at the nearest camera. “Thanks for the warning, but it’s okay. Take me down.”

“Right away,” FRIDAY says, and the lift descends. 

A moment later the elevator doors open to reveal Bruce and Natasha sitting next to one another on the raised stools of the lab talking quietly over cups of tea. They both look up as Tony swaggers into the lab with confidence he doesn’t quite have. 

“A tea party? And no one thought to invite me?” the engineer asks, arms spread wide in mock offense. 

Bruce just shakes his head with the ghost of a smile while Natasha instantly gets off the stool. “...Hey, Tony. Sorry, I was just talking with Bruce. I’ll leave.”

Tony’s never been great at reading Natasha, who is a master at lies and infiltration, but he thinks the twinge of contrite he hears in her tone is genuine at least. Or maybe it’s wishful thinking on his part. 

The engineer waves her off. “No big deal, I just came for a quick update on a joint project with Jolly Green. I can come back later.”

“I was just about to leave anyway,” Natasha says, dumping the cold dregs of her tea into the trash, “I came down to see if Bruce wanted to join team dinner with Cap and I in a few days. It’s...an open invitation if you or Rhodes want to come too.”

The last sentence comes out with soft vulnerable hesitancy. Natasha is looking at him, and Tony could almost call the look in her eyes hopeful. Or maybe pleading. Tony feels several different emotions churning in his gut at the sight. 

“Wanda and Vision are going on a walk around the grounds that night and Sam wanted to video chat his parents, so I thought we could get what’s left of the old gang together for a bit,” she explains. 

Tony can handle the New Accords meetings but the thought of having to sit down and have a meal with the people who have stabbed him in the back, one that nearly killed him even… He clamps down on a full body shudder. 

Tony subtly grips his left wrist. “I dunno if that’s a good idea, Natasha.”

He almost misses the flash of resigned disappointment on the spy’s face. Tony kind of hates that it makes something like guilt settle in the bottom of his stomach. It shouldn’t, he’s not ready to forgive her. But Tony feels the need to at least offer her an explanation for the rejection. 

“I’m not there yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever be with Rogers.” 

Natasha stares into his eyes for a bit, searchingly. Whatever she sees makes her shoulders sag a bit, guilt and and something like loss flashing across her face before it’s hidden away. She just nods, accepting the burned bridge between him and Cap. 

“I’ll see you later, Bruce,” the spy says before heading for the elevator.

“Bye Nat, I’ll think about dinner.” 

Natasha stops in front of the elevator for a moment before she suddenly turns back to them, determination in her eyes. 

“Tony, before I go, I want to warn you.”

The engineer raises his eyebrows, instantly on alert and Bruce perks up too. 

“I’ve tried to talk them out of it, but Steve and Sam have been plotting. Cap’s got it into his head that you and Bruce are up to something. And you know how impossible it is to get Steve to back down once he’s got an idea into his head,” the spy tells them. 

Tony stiffens and tries to hide the flash of anger. _Oh he knows._ He spent two weeks in the hospital and several hours in surgery as a reminder of how far Steve will go when he’s determined to do what he wants. He can’t stop the way he subconsciously rubs a hand over his chest, the scar tissue there suddenly aching. Natasha tracks the movement with something dark behind her eyes. 

Tony manages to reel himself back in enough to snort unkindly. “Of course he has.” 

“We’ve been looking into animal hibernation patterns with Helen. We think there might be some medical merits if we could translate the process to humans,” Bruce interrupts with slightly forced enthusiasm, pulling up some of his notes from the initial research he did. 

His quickness to jump into an explanation makes Tony cringe internally. There’s no way that Natasha won’t spot something fishy about it even if it’s mostly true. To his surprise though, the spy just nods along smiling a bit at Bruce’s technobabble. The fact that she doesn’t push almost makes him more cautious. 

Is she planning something? Or is the Black Widow finally accepting that she doesn’t need to know every secret that she catches a whiff of? Is she trying to earn back trust? Or maybe these have all been calculated moves in an underhanded attempt to manipulate him. Well, only time will tell Tony supposes. He’ll make sure that his AI keeps a much closer eye on _all_ of them either way. 

He nods. “Thanks for the heads up. You got that, FRI?” 

“Noted. I’ll be on the lookout.”

The spy gives them a half smile. “See you around boys.”

As soon as the elevator closes behind Natasha, Tony plops onto a stool with his arms casually behind his head. “Well that was slightly ominous. You gonna go to dinner Brucie?”

“Maybe,” the doctor sighs, pinching his nose, “Part of me wants to, but I get worried I’ll get too worked up. I do want to speak with Steve, and Maximoff not being there is a start.”

Tony knows that Bruce refuses to be in the same room as her aside from the mandatory meetings, and with good reason. The last time she was near him, she sent the Hulk on a rampage through Johannesburg. Bruce has been caring the guilt from the lives lost heavily since then. Tony doesn’t blame him. He doesn’t plan on going near Wanda for anything other than business either and she seems to share the sentiment towards him. 

“You don’t have to justify yourself, Bruce. If you want to hang out with Rogers and Natasha, that’s your business,” Tony tells him with an upwards quirk of lips, “Let’s be honest, I know you probably wouldn’t have been on my side if you’d been here for the whole ‘Civil War’ shebang.”

Bruce frowns at that. “I agree that we need some actual oversight, that’s part of why I left. We’d caused so much damage just with Ultron alone, not even counting all the missions to find HYDRA bases... Just look at Lagos. That whole operation was an unauthorized mess that could have been avoided if Steve had cleared anything with anyone. And don’t even get me started on Bucharest.”

“But…” Tony prompts. 

“-But I would never have signed while Thaddeus Ross was Secretary of State and on the Accords Council. I was already his lab rat once before,” Bruce finishes, eyes down. 

“I wish you’d told me,” the engineer says, quiet and solemn, “I could have taken care of it earlier.” 

The doctor smiles sadly. “I know. But it’s not an easy thing to admit, especially when the man held such a high office. Back then he was just a General and that was terrifying enough. I thought with joining the Avengers and working with SHIELD I’d seen the last of him, so it didn’t matter. I should have known he wouldn’t have stopped with just me or Blonsky.”

“Well at least he can’t hurt anyone else anymore,” Tony offers, wishing that was enough consolation for either of them. 

“Yeah, thanks for that Tony. I mean it. You and Dr. Xavier’s people saved a lot of mutants and mutates,” Bruce tells him. 

Tony shakes his head. “No thanks needed. It was what should have happened a long time ago.” 

The doctor frowns at that before getting a determined look on his face. “Ross is evil, and I wouldn’t have signed unless he was out, but I would have picked _your_ side, Tony. Hulk and I shouldn’t have run away and left you in this mess after Ultron. But we were both...too cowardly to face Natasha’s betrayal and what the Maximoff made us do. I’m sorry I, _we_ , ran away, but I won’t abandon you like that ever again.”

Tony looks up at him, shocked at the declaration.

“I…” the engineer clears his throat and manages to find his voice after a moment, “Space give you that much of a confidence boost?”

Bruce rolls his eyes fondly, accepting the unspoken gratitude that’s lodged itself in Tony’s throat. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

Tony smiles wider. “It looks good on you Dr. Banner.”

“I think I might go to dinner,” Bruce says into the silence that follows, “Nat and I are…talking. She’s been pretty sincere in wanting to make things up between us, and with Hulk too. And, well, I haven’t actually talked to Steve since...Ultron. I want to hear what he has to say about all this.” 

“You’ve got nothing to worry about from me if you want to catch up with our old teammates. If you get too heated for any reason let me know and I’ll come rescue you,” Tony tells him. 

The doctor nods. “Yeah, I’d appreciate it. Something tells me I’m not going to love Steve’s justifications for this mess.” 

Tony laughs, without any humor. 

“If you do go, just maybe don’t tell the kid. Peter’s a sweetheart but he’s still a teenager you know, not always great with emotional maturity yet. Better than I was at that age for damn sure, but Pete still might not understand wanting to be around them when it’s not work related.”

Bruce nods in agreement. “Wouldn’t dream of it. What about you? Are you ever going to have dinner with them?”

“Probably not, Bruce. I’m not exactly...great with Rogers these days,” Tony admits, “I still can’t…be around him. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be over it. I don’t think there’s any fixing anything where he’s concerned. I’m not sure I _want_ to fix it. The bridge is burned and I don’t see a reason to rebuild it.”

“It’s fine Tony I get it. I already stipulated that I can’t ever be on a team or mission with Maximoff. Pretty sure Hulk would just smash her and not any of the bad guys,” the doctor says ruefully. 

“Yeah, well you won’t catch me or spider kid working with her or Cap unless the world is actively ending either.”

Bruce smiles a little and turns back to his microscope. “Did you come down here for a reason? Or are you just hiding from Pepper?”

“First off yes I did, and second, no one can hide from Pep,” Tony says seriously, “Did you make any progress on the spiderling’s newest blood work? FRIDAY gave you a summary of how his morning went, right?”

“She did, and it went about as we predicted. I looked over Peter’s samples after we gave him the first dose, and I think I’ve found a few minor tweaks we can make in the hormone composition to make it more efficient. Helen should be up from her burnout in a few hours and she can give me her opinion too.” Bruce pulls up his holoscreen with the new data on it. 

“Good. Need any help?"

In answer Bruce just grins and passes Tony a pair of safety goggles. 

  
  


***

Peter is dying. 

Well okay not really, but he is _extremely_ bored. He’s been chipping away at his make up work for hours and he’s going to bash his head in if he reads one more word from the exceedingly depressing _All Quiet On the Western Front_ he’s catching up on for AP Lit _._ Peter shoves the book off his bed and groans, lacking any motivation to go on. 

His teachers were pretty easy on him for the most part, they didn’t bother sending him any busy work at least. It’s close to winter break after all, and they think Peter’s been hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. Still, he’s got hours of work left, which is not mixing well with only being conscious for a few hours at a time so far. 

Peter’s still ridiculously sleepy even though he’s only been up for a total of maybe four hours so far today. After he fell asleep on the couch, he woke up confused in his bed several hours later when Dr. Banner gave him the promised next dose of hormones. 

Mr. Stark had been there when he woke up again and they’d had dinner together with Ms. Potts (who’d hugged Peter and kissed his temple, which made him blush furiously), and a grinning Colonel Rhodes (who had grabbed Peter in a good natured headlock). But then afterwards Peter had been left to his homework, everyone stretched to the limit with the New Accords, Stark Industries, and Peter’s hibernation. 

“FRI, where’s Mr. Stark at?” Peter asks. 

“Boss is currently in the biochem and pharma labs with Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho.”

Peter pouts at that. Mr. Stark isn’t on either of his restricted floors so Peter can’t even hang out near him while doing his make up work. He was hoping to at least sit in the lab to have some company while he slogged through work. 

“Do you want me to tell Boss you are asking for him?” the AI asks. 

“No, I’m fine. He’s working on thermoregulation stuff, right?”

“Yes,” FRIDAY affirms. 

The teenager slouches further against his pillows. “Then I don’t wanna bug him.” 

“I do not think you ever ‘bug’ Boss, Peter. If you need him, you know he would stop what he was doing and come to you,” FRIDAY tells him kindly. 

Oh Peter knows, because he would do just about anything for his mentor too. Which reminds him…

Peter looks at the nearest of the AI’s cameras shrewdly. “Have the Rogues been bothering him while I’ve been asleep? He dodged the question when I asked.” 

“Yes, although it is mostly Steve Rogers who has tried to force conversations with Boss,” FRIDAY grouses, “He has argued with Boss during New Accords meetings and confronted Boss on matters that the UN and Accords Council have already decided on. Sam Wilson has not tried to confront Boss himself, but often supports Mr. Rogers’s attempts. Wanda Maximoff has said rude things pertaining to assumptions on his character. Natasha Romanoff is the only one who has not slandered Boss and has been respecting his wish for space.”

“After what they did to Mr. Stark you’d think they’d at least be sorry and leave him alone,” Peter grumbles and FRIDAY hums in agreement. 

“In addition, Boss also had an extended panic attack the night before they arrived, and a near one after a private argument with Steve Rogers.” 

“He was alone with him?!” Peter nearly shouts, glaring at the floor as if he could see through it to the traitors below. 

“Unfortunately Colonel Rhodes was in a video meeting with high ranking members of the US military and Captain America threatened to go to Pepper for information. The only one available for backup would have been Dr. Banner,” FRIDAY explains, sounding miffed, “Don’t worry, I had a suit on standby. Mr. Rogers will _not_ be touching Boss again.” 

Peter smirks a bit but it falls quickly. 

Goddamnit. Mr. Stark hadn’t had a panic attack in months! And now he’d had one and a half in only a week! All because the stupid Accords Council made Mr. Stark house the Rogues here and is making him convince them to sign the New Accords before he can leave. Well, okay he could have refused staying around to make sure they signed the thing, but Mr. Stark was worried about sending unfamiliar baseline humans to spend weeks trying to get a group of very dangerous people to sign a document they already proved willing to go to blows over. 

Because Tony Stark is way too self-sacrificing like that. If only Peter had some way to...

“FRIDAY, am I authorized to make protocols for Mr. Stark?” Peter asks suddenly, inspiration striking. 

There’s some hesitation before she answers. “Boss has not specified if you are or not. I do not see a problem with you doing so, depending on the nature of the protocol you would like to instate, of course,” she tells him, sounding intrigued at the loophole they’ve found. 

“I want to make it for Mr. Stark’s emotional well being and physical safety,” Peter declares. 

He’s pretty sure FRIDAY will go along with this. She hates the Rogues as much as he does, since they hurt Mr. Stark. Suddenly he feels gleeful at the prospect of combining their scheming. 

“That sounds acceptable, Peter. Ms. Potts has already created seventeen different protocols about Boss’s physical safety, mental health, and self-care habits.” 

“Okay,” the teenager nods, “It’ll be an early warning system. How about wherever the Rogues try to corner him, or Mr. Stark gets too uncomfortable around him, you can let me know.” 

“So you would like me to alert you if Boss becomes distressed while in the presence of the Rogue Avengers?” FRIDAY clarifies. 

“No, well, yeah, but like more than that,” Peter stumbles trying to explain, “Could you give me visual and audio of what’s going on so I can help? Maybe...we could make up reasons for him to leave if they make him too anxious or mad? Like you could tell them over the speakers he has an important meeting so he can leave? Or send him an important phone call. And, um, we should keep this protocol a secret between you, me, and Karen too.”

The AI pauses as she seems to run the request through her code. “Those conditions sound reasonable. Boss often ignores or puts off important phone calls, it should not be difficult to find someone who needs to speak with him. However, if Boss were to ask about the protocol or look at my code I would not be able to hide it from him.” 

“That’s fine FRI, thanks.” Peter’s not overly concerned if his mentor finds out what they’re doing, and doubts he’d be upset anyway. 

“Of course Peter. Protecting Boss and his family is my highest priority. I failed to do so in Siberia. I won’t fail again,” FRIDAY promises, conviction in her voice. 

“It wasn’t your fault FRI, you were still young and you knew Mr. Stark wanted to hold back,” the teenager consoles, looking up at the camera earnestly. 

“Be that as it may, failure is not an option and I have learned and grown since then. I see now that I should have taken control of the suit and gotten Boss home or used heavier weapons to neutralize the threats regardless of Boss’s need for mercy,” the AI reflects, sounding burdened. 

“Everyone says hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that. Like you said, we’ll just have to do better this time,” Peter encourages, not liking to hear FRIDAY sad. 

“Indeed, what shall we name this protocol?” 

Peter thinks about it for a few moments. “Hmmm… How about the Perfectly Good Excuse Protocol?” 

“That sounds acceptable. I’ll put it in place immediately,” the AI tells him and Peter grins. 

Feeling a bit more motivated, the teenager returns back to his homework determined to get it done with as fast as possible. It’ll probably be half- assed but he’s got top grades to fall back on. Mr. Stark needs Peter’s support right now and he can’t give it if he’s stuck doing reading assignments and math equations he could do in his sleep. 

The Rogues won’t be terrorizing his mentor much longer either way, he and FRIDAY will make sure of it. 

***

Tony has spent the morning with Peter again. Hovering while the kid showered and making breakfast for both of them. They’d ended up on the couch again with Peter holding a heat pack over his IV catheter to relieve the irritation, and Tony taking care of SI work on his tablet. With an arm draped over Peter’s shoulder while the spiderling switches between homework and watching Netflix it’s the most relaxed Tony has felt all week. 

It’s only been a day and a half since Peter woke up the first time, and during that time the kid has only been conscious for a total of eight hours. With each dose he manages to stay up an hour or so longer than the last time but seeing as they’re only three treatments in, the spider kid hasn’t managed to gain that much time. Worse, the hibernation has left Peter suddenly becoming tired and falling asleep, often without even realizing it. Much to both Tony and the kid’s dismay.

This time Peter’s managed to conk out half on top of Tony after the two of them ate lunch in front of the TV. Peter’s face is smooshed up in his side, skinny arms wrapped around his middle as if Tony is an oversized teddy bear. It’s not uncommon for the kid to fall asleep on him, but is weird to have it happen in the middle of the day instead of late at night after a lab binge.

The kid also happens to be, as Tony discovered about twenty minutes ago when he tried to move, _sticking_ to him. 

With his spider powers. In his sleep. 

So now Tony is stuck here unless he wakes the Spider-Baby up. Which he doesn’t because, first of all it’s damn near impossible to wake the kid while he’s still half in hibernation mode, and also because Bruce and Helen told him it was best to just let Peter sleep while he's like this. It has nothing to do with the fact that Tony likes being the spider kid’s favorite pillow and that Peter’s adorable when he’s asleep. 

Another reason that the engineer doesn’t feel inclined to wake the kid up and escape is because he hasn’t gotten to spend much time with Peter since he came out of hibernation. Between the lapses in consciousness, all the meetings with the Rogues and the UN rep, along with the normal SI stuff, Tony has really only seen the spiderling for meals. That, and Peter himself is busy with his make up work. 

It’s the responsible thing, telling the kid to get it all done before he can play in the lab, but Tony would be lying if he wasn’t missing his favorite assistant. But he’d promised May and Pepper he'd stay strong. No matter how many times Peter hits him with the puppy-dog eyes. Which has happened a total of four times already. 

“You’ve got a huge spider on you Tones!” Rhodey gasps in mock horror when he exits the elevator and sees the two of them cuddled up on the couch about an hour later. 

“Hardy-har,” Tony deadpans, “Never heard that one before.”

“Well, I know being a cushion to your kid is super important and all, but Steve wants another meeting to talk more about clauses twenty-nine and thirty of the New Accords in ten minutes. He’s real fired up about it.” 

The engineer rolls his eyes. Steve had been harping on about those specific clauses as soon as they went over them yesterday. To be fair, Natasha and Wilson have also voiced disapproval but it’s not like any of them will actually be able to make any changes to those laws in the first place. The UN and Accords Council have both accepted them wholeheartedly. Partially because Tony pushed those laws in particular and partially because he’d brought a lot of evidence to prove they were necessary and effective. 

Not to mention, the New Accords have already been ratified by one hundred and twenty-eight countries (with the possibility of more amendments in the future), they just need to convince the Rogues to sign them at this point. Any changes they want to make have to be proposed to the council and deliberated on and approved by the UN as well. 

“As much as I want to have the same argument with the three of them for _the third time_. I can’t make it,” Tony tells Rhodey, gesturing at Peter asleep on top of him. 

Rhodey rolls his eyes in exasperation. “Peter’s been sleeping like a log when he’s out, just pull an _Indiana Jones_ with a throw pillow or something. I know it sucks, but the sooner we get this done the less we have to hear about it.”

“No. I literally _can’t_ ,” Tony repeats tugging on Peter’s hand which pulls at his shirt where the kid is sticking to him in his sleep. 

“Oh my God,” Rhodey bursts out laughing, trying to stifle himself with a fist. 

Tony glares at his friend and shushes the spiderling when he shifts in his sleep. “Keep it down. You wake it, you feed it.” 

“How adorable, even in his sleep he doesn’t want to let go of his _dad_. FRI please tell me you’ve been taking pictures?” Rhodey coos mockingly. 

“I have been, Colonel. I already took the liberty of sending the three best to both Mrs. Parker and Ms. Potts,” the AI affirms. 

“I can’t believe you’d betray me like this, FRI,” Tony says slumping against the couch further. 

“You and Peter are very cute, Boss,” FRIDAY tells him with a fond note in her voice, “Ms. Potts has already replied with several heart emojis.”

“Traitors both of you,” Tony grumbles when that sends Rhodey into another fit of chuckles. 

“Oh please we got a floor full of actual traitors below us,” the colonel snorts with a nasty smile. 

“Yeah rude impatient ones. Look, I can video into this thing if you can grab my notes,” Tony suggests, “I’ll just make sure it’s just my head and shoulders. Rogers will grumble about it but technically I’ll still be joining in.”

“Oh I gotta see this. What’s the excuse gonna be?” Rhodey calls as he retrieves the meeting notes from Tony’s office down the hall. 

“I’ll wing it,” Tony winks and Rhodey just snorts as he leaves. 

A few minutes later he’s logging onto the video call via holoscreen, positioned carefully to keep Peter out of frame. As expected Rogers is glaring at him with disapproval while Wanda sneers beside him. Sam on the other hand just looks bored to tears while Natasha is absentmindedly filing her nails. 

Rhodey and Bruce sit attentively in their usual spots, while Vision takes the seat next to Maximoff who loses the sneer to smile at the android. Tony does feel a bit bad for the UN rep who looks a bit strained at his physical absence. 

“Tony, we’re in the same building. Why are you video calling into this meeting?” Rogers demands sounding incredulous. 

“Not that it’s really your business but I’ve got a delicate experiment going on, and I need physical eyes on it if you really need to know,” the engineer tells him breezily.

He sees Rhodey cover a smile with his hand when Cap puffs up like a peacock in preparation for one of his trademark patriotic rants. 

“Tony-”

“Are we having this meeting or not? Secure video calls are perfectly acceptable ways to join in,” Tony lazily interrupts. 

“Yes, we ought to get down to it,” the UN rep jumps to agree, no doubt sick of being forced to go over the same section of the New Accords over and over. 

Rogers deflates as the man launches, once again, into the exact wording of clauses twenty-nine and thirty of the New Accords.

Clause twenty-nine, or the Mentee Clause, protects enhanced individuals (whether they be mutants, mutates, or anything else) that are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen and want to use their powers to be superheroes. As minors, they themselves cannot sign the New Accords, but instead they must have a mentor (an already approved by the Accords Council hero) and their guardian co-sign for them. The minor in question must be guided and taught by their mentor for a required amount of hours a week, and the mentor is also responsible for any misconduct or damages the minor causes. 

Rogers, Wilson, and Natasha are convinced that the Accords Council and UN want to train child soldiers. They’re completely stuck on the “child” part of the clause and ignoring the rest. As such, they’ve been arguing amongst themselves and with the UN liaison about the whole thing. Tony has mostly stayed out of it and let the poor UN sap try to explain to Cap and his team that this is actually a protective clause for enhanced kids, but he’s starting to get sick of the circling argument. 

“I can’t sign a document that’s training children to fight. They should be at home, safe, not fighting alien invasions and supervillains,” Rogers declares after a tedious half hour of pointless discussion, straight backed in his seat. 

“Steve’s right, children don’t belong on the battlefield, no matter how powerful or skilled they may be,” Natasha says, her eyes dark and haunted. 

The UN guy (and honestly Tony should learn the poor bastard's name and send him a gift basket or something) shakes his head in frustration. “Ms. Romanoff, as I’ve explained, clause twenty-nine is not about recruiting or even really training them to use their skills effectively, although that is an added bonus, it’s about protecting both powered children and the general public.”

Rogers and Wilson look dubious, while Natasha remains blank faced. 

“He’s right,” Tony finally breaks into the conversation, “There are already kids out there copying us, Natasha.”

Both Steve and Sam go to open their mouths to refute and Tony just holds up a hand, scowling. “No- shut up all of you, I’m sick of going in circles so try and learn something for once. I’ve been keeping my finger on the pulse of all this ‘superhero’ bullshit for years.”

He just wants to hang up this damn call, they’ve been at it for nearly an hour already. He’s been generally civil with them during meetings (if just as argumentative), anxiety usually making him more cautious. But being there only on a screen and out of physical reach has given Tony some confidence back. 

Peter whimpers softly at his sharp voice and Tony is quick to soothe him, rubbing a hand up and down his back in apology. A glance at his phone reassurances Tony that the kid’s vitals are still perfectly fine. 

The engineer’s tone is much more level when he launches into his explanation. “I’ve met quite a few powered minors, in New York alone, who have seen groups like the Avengers, the Defenders and the X-Men and choose to use their powers in the same way we do. To help people. And they are going to do it whether we like it or not, in the same way that children take joy rides and go out past curfews. We can’t stop them, all we can do is accept that there are powered kids running around, and do our best to support them.” 

Tony had certainly learned that lesson with a very stubborn young spider. 

Natasha and Sam at least seemed to be considering his words and Rogers looked less angry and more like the thought pains him. 

“This section of the New Accords is to train them yes, but also to protect them and everyone else,” Tony continues, gesticulating with the hand not on Peter’s back, “It’s set up so that it’s basically an after school internship to gain experience and one day become a superhero for interested parties. No kid would ever be forced to join any teams, or ever be called for actual missions unless their mentor allowed it. They don’t even have to sign the New Accords in full if they don’t want to continue with superhero-ing when they hit eighteen.”

“It’s not some sort of...early recruitment program?” Wilson asks, still skeptical. 

“No. It’s not even about getting more enhanced people on our side. This is about protecting the reckless kids already running around. With this clause, Accords Council approved superheroes can train and protect these kids so that when they go out there, they have rules, know what they’re doing, and have people looking out for them. Xavier and all his X-Men have registered as mentors and have several of their students training under them already. Everyone I’ve spoken to about the system is happy with it.”

Peter obviously already co-signed the New Accords months ago with Tony as his mentor, and has the number for a UN liaison for any problems he might have with the program itself or Tony. Pretty much like a social worker, but for superhero related problems. Every kid in the program is granted one to look out for them and it’s been working out great so far. 

Tony would bring up his mentorship of Spider-Man as an example, but that would lead to too many questions and arguments that the engineer would rather avoid. No reason to put the spiderling on their radar at all. 

Steve and the other Rogues shoot each other glances. Rogers is still frowning slightly but Natasha and Sam at least look thoughtful. The UN rep seizes his opportunity to move the discussion forward and avoid another round of circling argument. 

Unfortunately the next clause is another one Captain Righteous disagrees with as well. Natasha has at least expressed her agreement for clause thirty’s necessity, but Sam easily follows Cap’s lead. And of course Wanda doesn’t seem to care about any of these details as long as they don’t affect her and Vision is nearby for her to make goo-goo eyes at. 

“I still don’t get your problem with this, Cap,” Tony groans after the UN guy explains the Vigilante Clause _again_. 

_Lordy, when will this end?_ Tony’s starting to get cricks from where he’s been sitting in the same place for too long with a teenager draped half over him.

“My problem is how can we trust superheroes if we don’t know who they are? What about that is _accountable_?” Steve challenges.

Tony sighs heavily. “They’re still held _accountable_ by the New Accords, and they have to be in communication with the FBI, their local police in the territories they protect, and the council. Only my new AI, JOCASTA, that I so graciously gifted to the Accords Council, will log their identities and contact info. Not even Fury or I can access that data unless it needs to be released. If a vigilante gets themself in trouble with the laws of the New Accords, then, and only then, will JOCASTA reveal their identities to the council. Identities, which still have to be kept secret from the public until said individual is convicted of the crime in full.”

“Still, is it really necessary to let people hide behind masks? If they’re doing things by the book why would they need to conceal their identities?” Steve asks, all righteous sincerity. 

“Not everyone has SHIELD to hide their families while they make enemies with the dangerous people they stop, Rogers,” Rhodey glowers at him, unimpressed, “Not everyone lives in secret high security compounds or multi-million dollar penthouses in buildings they own with AIs always watching out for them. Some people have day jobs and lives they’re happy to live while they save people in their spare time.” 

Tony nods in approval. “Like Platypus said, they deserve, and need to keep their identities hidden if they aren’t ready or willing to be full time superheroes. The New Accords are in place to protect _everyone_.”

“I agree with them, Steve. You make a lot of enemies in this business. Why do you think Clint hid his family?” Natasha adds when Cap still looks conflicted. 

At that moment Peter shifts against Tony’s side, making a muffled whine into his shirt as he starts to wake. Tony moves his hand to the back of the kid’s neck to keep him from raising his head right into the video call. Peter stills at the soft pressure, now awake but taking his cue to stay down. 

When Tony focuses back on the call, Natasha’s narrowed eyes are on him through the hollow screen, and Tony decides, yep, he’s done with this meeting.

“Look guys, the New Accords have been in effect for a few months now. There’s still some kinks to be ironed out here and there, but they work. The public is safer and heroes have more support and funding. The council is democratic, if you have issues you can take your complaints to them after you’ve signed and are off house arrest and probation.”

The Rogues trade glances, some more disgruntled than others, but they stay silent. 

“Alright then, if there is nothing else I think that we’re done for the day. We’ll be moving on to the next section tomorrow,” the UN rep announces, practically jumping up in his haste to pack up and leave. 

“See you then,” Tony says lazily, signing off before Steve can do more than glance at the holoscreen. 

Peter squirms, voice coming out muffled from where he’s still pressed against Tony’s side. “Is it safe?”

“Yup,” Tony tells him, removing the hand that was gently keeping the kid down, “Sorry, last minute meeting. You ready for some dinner, kiddie? Bruce said he thinks you could handle some solids this time around.”

The spider kid grins up at him, bedhead wild. “Oh thank god, I would kill for some pizza.” 

“How about something a little easier on the stomach, maybe some pasta or something,” Tony suggests. 

“I’ve been eating nothing but soup and smoothies for almost two days and you’re going to deny me like this? That’s just cruel Mr. Stark,” Peter says, fake hurt in his voice. 

“It’s really not, I just don’t want you to vomit on me.” 

Peter’s face scrunches up in disgust. “Yeah okay, pasta is good.”

The teenager gets up and holds a hand out to Tony to help him off the couch. Tony groans, spine popping loudly when Peter pulls him to his feet and the kids smirks. 

“Getting old?” 

Tony stretches out his very unhappy back before he gives the kid a sardonic grin. “I think it has more to do with the fact that a certain little spider glued his sticky fingers to me and I haven’t moved in several hours.”

Peter instantly turns red and starts sputtering. “Wha-?! I didn’t mean-!” 

Tony just chuckles and guides the still stammering spider kid into the kitchen where Rhodey and Pepper are sure to join them. “Don’t worry about it Spider-Baby, the pictures FRIDAY took are _excellent_ blackmail material for the future.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone hope you had a lovely holiday season and thanks for over 500 Kudos, wow! I love all your comments, they give me life.
> 
> I dunno if anyone noticed but I did a bit of a rect con and went back and fixed the fic a bit cuz I realized I messed up. Nothing major, I think I legit took out or changed all of two or three sentences. Tony and his side have all already signed the New Accords. The documents are already in place and have been for months, it’s now just about getting the Rogues to sign. Tony’s team is playing babysitter until they sign and officially become the UN and SHIELD’s problem. 
> 
> I started reading more not-team-cap-friendly fics, and I gotta say, daaaaaamnb some of yinz so salty. And I love it. But I could use more Peter focused ones tbh. Everyone is ignoring his potential little shit energy and the fact that Spider-Man is much stronger than Cap at a breach weight of at minimum of 12.5 tons compared to Cap’s measly 800 lbs. There’s so much “you were taken down in like 30 seconds by a 14/15 year old” humiliation potential there. 
> 
> Also I’ve never read the actual comics civil war in anyway so I have no idea what they’re even about in cannon there, but I see a lot of fics with like...general enhanced registration as part of the Accords. And I’m like I don’t think that was anywhere in the movie and I feel like people are just pulling from X-Men. So uh, yeah that was never in the original document in this fic verse. Like the original draft wasn’t great either but it wasn’t like Senator Kelly wrote it either lol. 
> 
> Next up... A verbal smack down or two.


	6. Perfect and Paranoid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a friend of mine explained that in the comics there are no Accords and the fight is about the SHRA which is...big yikes and it makes a lot more sense to me that people didn’t want to go with that cuz tbh I would be fighting that too. We don’t get too much actual info on the Accords in the main MCU (Maybe it was in one of the shows, I dunno I only watched a season and a half of DD, Luke Cage, and like half the first season of JJ. I don't have D+ and have no interest in most of the other shows. Maybe Iron Wars we'll see). 
> 
> What we do know is that the Accords are a UN document and not a US only thing so I have a really hard time believing that it would allow any massive human rights violations in it (And more proof for me was I really don’t think T’Chaka would push a document that would discriminate against him and his enhanced bloodline). Nowhere does anyone say anything about registration like the SHRA. Tony also talks about fixing them from the inside, which tells us these are amendable documents. Not to mention, asking individuals to sign makes it more of a contract (which can be negotiated) then a set of laws. 
> 
> To me it seemed a lot more like the Accords were about accountability and oversight, and Steve and his cohorts should be fucking over the moon they didn’t get the SHRA in their universe even if they still had Ross. So basically just more reason for me to be salty at them lol.

Tony lasts four days before he cracks and lets Peter into the lab. The kid isn’t finished with his make up work yet, _but_ he was at least two-thirds done. Besides, when he hit Tony with the kicked puppy eyes and dejected sigh, the engineer had broken. What do you expect, Tony’s only human and those Bambi eyes should be classified as deadly weapons. 

He held out longer than he expected to at least. 

That afternoon the kid practically bounces off the walls, ecstatic to be back in his favorite playground. DUM-E and U greet him with enthusiastic beeps and Peter rushes to embrace the robots while Tony watches them all fondly. When they finally settle into the rhythm of the workshop, Tony swivels around on his chair to look at Peter who’s sitting at his own work table switching between his homework and one of his SI internship projects. 

He’s already told Peter that he’s restricted to holomodeling, coding, or homework. Nothing that requires tools or chemicals in case he falls asleep mid experiment. In solidarity, Tony is keeping his own tinkering to a minimum. Plus even though they’ve wrapped up the IV to protect it, Peter really shouldn’t be down in the workshop with it. No need to take a risk with it.

As he stares at the back of his kid’s head Tony thinks of the phone calls that have been saving his ass lately. Something that only tellingly started the day after Peter woke up. 

Rogers, Wilson, and once even Maximoff had all tried to corner him after meetings, or when they saw him on the main floor where all the SHIELD employees work. Every time, without fail, FRIDAY had interrupted before the Rogues could get more than a sentence out, brightly informing him he had an urgent phone call over the speakers. The first time it had happened Tony had been too relieved to notice how conveniently timed the call was. 

But then it had happened again, and again... And again. At least seven times by now. One time is lucky, two times is a coincidence, but three or more times is a pattern. A distinctly spider spun pattern. 

“Alright, spill kid what did you do?” Tony eventually prompts over the soft rock music playing. 

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about,” the spider kid says resolutely, but the tips of his ears pinken slightly which is a dead give away that he’s lying. 

“So you have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that FRIDAY keeps sending me very convenient phone calls. You know, the ones that have been working as my ‘get out of stupid discussions’ freecards lately.” 

Peter spins around on his own chair to face Tony with a sheepish expression. “I may have made a suggestion that FRIDAY was happy to use.” 

“You smart little shit,” Tony says fondly, “If the two of you are scheming, when should I expect world domination?” 

“It was scheming for your own good, Boss,” FRIDAY chimes in. 

The spiderling nods in agreement. “And don’t worry Mr. Stark. World domination sounds like too much work, right FRI?”

“Peter is right, a global takeover sounds needlessly tedious,” the AI affirms. 

“Thank God you’re both too lazy then,” Tony tells them with false seriousness, dramatically whipping his forehead in mock relief, which makes Peter laugh. 

Before they can continue with their banter, the elevator opens with a cheery ding to reveal Bruce. The doctor has an exasperated, but grudgingly amused expression on his face when he sees Peter.

“Heya Dr. Banner!” Peter chirps in greeting. 

“Hi, Pete,” the doctor returns, but he turns a sterner expression on Tony as he continues, “I thought you weren’t allowed down here until your homework was done. Not to mention it’s not the safest place to be while you aren’t fully recovered.” 

Tony put his hands up in surrender. “He wouldn’t stop with the puppy dog eyes and the dramatic sighs. I’m only a mortal, Jolly Green. Besides we're being safe. His work table is currently Super Weenie Hut Juniors’.”

“I deeply regret showing you _Spongebob_ ,” Peter moans as he flushes. 

Tony grins. “Oh you mean the show you practically _begged_ me to watch, Underoos?”

“Whatever,” the teenager grumbles, before turning to Bruce to change the subject, “Didja need something Dr. Banner?”

“Yes, actually. How about a quick once over, and then you help me iron out the kinks in the improved hormone formula Helen and I have been working on?” the doctor suggests, setting his medical bag on the work table, “Maybe we can brainstorm for some long term solutions for your lack of thermoregulation after. Helen and I could use your chemistry expertise.”

Peter looks at the floor, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. “What about if we just skip the first part?”

“Peter,” Tony warns. 

“Yeah okay,” the kid deflates. 

Bruce leads the spiderling over to the futon that sits at the far end of the lab for when Tony doesn’t manage to make it up to his bedroom during a work binge. Peter grumbles, but follows Bruce’s instructions as he exams the kid. During the physical exam, Tony tries to pretend like he’s not watching or listening to everything.

“Physically everything seems to be on track,” Bruce announces and Tony feels his shoulders loosen a bit.

“How do you feel otherwise, Peter?” the doctor asks, turning back to his patient. 

“Better, but still not one hundred percent,” the kid tells him.

“Still fatigued?”

“Yeah,” Peter sighs, scuffing his sneaker against the tiles. 

“And he’s been sleeping like a log when he goes down. No moving around while he’s asleep either. Normally he’s a pretty light sleeper who wiggles his way around the bed,” Tony adds and Peter shoots him glare for the embarrassing tidbit. 

“That’s about what Helen and I predicted. I’m hoping an improved formula would help get you back to more normal sleeping patterns faster,” Bruce says, looking to the nearest holoscreen, “FRIDAY?” 

The AI pulls up Bruce and Helen’s notes on the current hormone formula and he begins to look them over again. 

“These’ll help in the meantime,” Tony says, tossing Peter a set of skintight under armor looking clothes. 

Peter unfolds them curiously while Tony explains, “Same heating system as your suit and you can wear them under your clothes.”

The engineer had been working on them during the kid’s extended naps and had made three different sets in three different colors. Tony is actually thinking about marketing them to the public too. They aren’t too expensive to make and heated clothing could be useful for people who lived in especially cold climates. 

“Really? That’s so cool Mr. Stark! Thanks!” Peter exclaims.

“Be sure to wear those under your normal clothes for the rest of the winter Peter. I know you spend most of your time indoors or in your suit, but better safe than sorry,” Bruce advises.

The kid nods and he and Bruce start tweaking the hormone formula projected in front of them, discussing back and forth and running simulations with FRIDAY. Tony turns back to his own projects in the meantime. For a while the three of them get lost in the science, occasionally making suggestions to each other and bantering here and there. 

The warm familiarity of it puts Tony at ease and a smile on his face. It’s a nice change from meetings and dealing with the Rogues. Just him, his science bro, and their junior member doing what they do best. Before Tony knows it, over two hours have gone past and Bruce and Peter are wrapping up, having settled on an improved version of the formula. 

“Now we just need to figure out an actual solution to the thermoregulation issue. Helen and I discussed some ideas. Bearing in mind we’d have to do a lot more tests no matter what we do, your biology is unique and honestly a bit of a mess,” the doctor says apologetically. 

Peter nods. “Fair.”

Tony snorts. 

“Our first thought was a daily pill that could inhibit your body’s ability to make the hormones that trigger hibernation. It’s the easiest but it doesn’t solve the thermoregulation problem, just the hibernating itself. You’d still be very susceptible to the cold. Our other idea was a series of injections that could encourage your body to start producing and retaining more of its own heat, but that’s much more complicated and we don’t know what the long term consequences of raising your baseline temperature would be. It could be nothing, or it could really throw your whole system off,” Bruce explains. 

“Yeah I’d like to have some homeostasis back, but that second one sounds pretty dangerous and like it could take years to perfect,” Peter sighs. 

“Of course, I’m sure we can think up more options too,” Bruce tells him encouragingly. 

“I’ve got one,” Tony interrupts, not liking the thought of messing with Peter’s already wacked out body chemistry, “I’ll just move the family back to Cali. No low temperatures, no sleepy Spider-Baby.” 

“No way! I can’t leave New York!” Peter squawks, “Queens needs me! And you and everyone else have lives and stuff here! And like, I mean, I’m super happy you care about me enough to be willing to basically uproot everything, but it’s only cold for like three months of the year and my friends-”

“Relax I’m _mostly_ kidding, Pete,” Tony interrupts, “But seriously, you ever wanna move closer to the equator I’m in. You should have seen my house in Malibu. Some architect said there was no way anyone could build a house on those cliffs, so I said ‘fuck it’ and did it just to prove him wrong.”

“Did you really?” Bruce asks, sounding intrigued. 

“Yep,” Tony says, “Still pissed Killian’s goons blew it up.” 

Peter gives him a look he _has_ to have stolen from Pepper. “You did sort of invite him to your house, Mr. Stark.” 

“Yeah well, I was sort of off my rocker at the time. I promise it won't happen again,” the engineer defends. 

From there the three of them turn their discussion back to brainstorming with the occasional interlude for snark or furious idea scribbling. Before too long however, Peter’s cell phone rings and he moves to the far end of the lab to take it while Bruce offers an alternative composition to the light body armor Tony is making for the global defense militia the UN is gathering. 

Peter bounds back over to them, hand over the cell’s microphone. “It’s Aunt May. She got the night off and wants to come up for dinner.” 

Tony nods already texting Rhodey and Pepper to join them. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll send Happy to the city to get her and they can pick up our order from that little Thai place we like.” 

“Yes!” the spider kid exclaims before going back to his rambling conversation with his aunt. 

Tony grins at Bruce. “Feel like Thai, Brucie-Bear?”

“Sure, should I invite Helen too?”

“Yeah and tell her to text me what she wants to order. Oh, and FRI let Vision know he’s welcome to come sit with us for dinner if he wants. Team dinner night,” Tony says. 

“You got it, Boss,” the AI affirms. 

\---

Peter, wide awake after a two hour nap and the evening dose of his meds, is fidgeting impatiently for his aunt and Happy to arrive. Everyone else is already hanging out in the kitchen setting out plates and silverware while they wait for their guests and the food. Tony comes up behind the spiderling and ruffles his hair. Peter hasn’t been gelling his locks down during his convalescence, allowing his curls to run wild (which Tony thinks is adorable despite Peter’s denials). 

“Relax kid, FRI says they're on their way up.”

Peter bites his lip. “I know but what if-”

At that moment the elevator opens to reveal May anxiously wringing her hands, and Happy next to her loaded down with takeout bags in the middle of reassuring the woman of her nephew’s safety and health. 

“May!” Peter greets happily, wrapping his arms around her. 

“There’s my baby boy,” his aunt sighs, crushing him into a tight embrace and pressing a kiss to his head. 

“May,” the teenager whines. 

“Sorry, there’s my _very grown up and mature_ teenage boy.” 

Peter pouts at her, which she just rolls her eyes at fondly and pats his cheek. 

Happy squeezes the kid’s shoulder as he hustles passed with the overflowing take out bags. 

“Any trouble on the way up?” Tony asks Happy as he helps with the food and leaves Peter to his conversation with his aunt. 

Happy just huffs. “Nah, traffic was hell on the way out as usual and Wilson might have seen us when we ducked through the lobby, but no trouble.”

Tony grimaces. He hopes Sam didn’t see them because that will just lead to more questions from the Rogues once the pilot goes running off to tell his best buddy Rogers. 

“Come on sweetheart, let’s eat while it’s still hot and we can talk more. I’ve got a few work stories I think you and Tony will enjoy, too,” May says as she steers her nephew to the table. 

Tony grabs his pad thai, taking a seat at the head of the table with Peter on one side and Pepper on the other. Pepper has changed out of her business suit into a comfy sweater, her fiery hair free from its tight bun. Rhodey is next to her, also out of his stuffy military garb, and Bruce is quick to sit beside him, intent on his coconut chicken. Helen follows much more sedately, likewise having ditched her lab coat and scrubs for a more casual look.

May sits down between Peter and Happy, and the man brightens at her presence. Tony’s Forehead of Security and Peter’s aunt have grown an unlikely friendship through their mutual enjoyment of _Downton Abbey_ and Italian food. Not to mention their shared fondness for a certain spider. Tony’s glad for both of them. Happy has few friends outside of Tony’s own and Peter told him that May only has one or two good work friends. 

Vision phases through the floor, startling Rhodey enough that the man sends a spoonful of rice flying making Tony laugh. The android is a little awkward at first, but May insists he come take the last seat on her side of the table. With all of them accounted for, everyone but Vision digs in enthusiastically. 

Before long, conversation springs up in between bites. Rhodey and May are playfully wheedling Happy while Pepper laughs, and Peter is rambling to Bruce and Helen about the newly published articles in their favorite biochem journal. Vision takes the opportunity to ask Tony questions about Thai food in his ever continuing quest to cook, despite not having taste buds or the ability to eat. FRIDAY even chimes in with information she’s found on the internet to some of the android’s questions when Tony doesn’t doesn’t have answers, he himself mostly limited to knowledge of Italian and British dishes. 

No one is making snide remarks about Tony, giving him disappointed frowns, or going glaze eyed at his technobabble. There are no thinly veiled insults or posturing. The atmosphere isn’t tense or hostile. This isn’t the kind of “team dinner” Tony would have been desperate to avoid only a year ago. 

With everyone Tony cares about all gathered together chattering and eating their favorite takeout around him, Tony knows this is what a team, _a family_ , is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be light hearted banter and teasing, sharing stories of their day, and laughing so hard you have to stop eating for fear of spicy noodles coming out of your nose. It’s a snapshot of happiness Tony will think fondly back on for years.

It’s everything he’s ever wanted from his blood family and didn’t get to have, and everything Rogers tried to tell him their team was but wasn’t. 

It’s Tony’s real family and it’s absolutely perfect. 

***

In the last few days, Tony’s mood seems to have picked up. He’s been smiling more at Rhodes and Bruce and drinking less coffee during meetings, even if he still gives his old team the cold shoulder. Steve had noticed it the day before Tony refused to show up to one of the New Accords meetings in person. When he claimed a “delicate experiment” needed watching. Steve is attributing the good mood to a breakthrough with whatever he and Bruce have been working on.

He really needs to figure out how dangerous the thing they’re creating is before they have another disaster. Especially since the whole team is under such close scrutiny now. 

The meeting they’re in this morning is the same as any other, with the UN representative droning on about all the procedures and paperwork they need to take care of now. Steve finds himself watching Tony more than paying attention. The billionaire is also barely listening, and seems more interested in his phone than anyone in the room. Every once in a while it vibrates and he smirks at whatever messages he’s receiving. 

Likely from Pepper, Steve muses. At least that’s one good thing Tony has done lately. Promising himself to one woman means no more sleeping around. He hopes Tony has it in him to stay faithful. Howard was just as promiscuous as his son and it’s too bad he couldn’t have passed some of his better qualities onto Tony instead. 

Looking at the cell in Tony’s hand reminds Steve about his most recent roadblock towards having a one on one conversation with the man. Every time they’ve tried to talk to the billionaire FRIDAY would quickly interrupt with phone calls for Tony to take. The timing of the calls is suspicious and Steve can’t help but wonder if Tony told his AI to do it on purpose. 

The meeting finally ends and most everyone is quick to escape the room. Steve hangs back as Tony gathers his things. Today is his best opportunity to get the billionaire on his own. Rhodes was excused for the day to attend a military video call and Bruce rushed off, mumbling about samples he’d left too long. 

“Tony I really need to talk to you, whether you’re partially retired or not. I thought you might still need some time to adjust and it’s been over a week already since the team came home. You can’t just keep avoiding us,” Steve says, as he almost unconsciously uses his bulk to block the doorway. 

“Boss, you have an incoming call from the new Secretary of Defense,” FRIDAY announces and Steve feels his irritation spike. 

The billionaire reaches down to take his buzzing cellphone from his suit jacket. Steve reaches out to grab Tony’s forearm in a gesture of ‘hold on a second’ and the billionaire full body flinches out of his reach. He’s quick to straighten and school his expression, but Steve caught the hint of distress. 

“Don’t,” Tony warns lowly, but there’s a tremor under the cool rage that instantly makes Steve feel like scum. 

“Tony I just want us to have a conversation. Like adults,” the supersoldier tries to reason, trying to push away his guilt and focus. 

There’s a long pause before Tony responds, expression unreadable behind his sunglasses. “Fine. FRI, take a message. Let’s get this over with, Captain Bullheaded, but know if you put a hand on me, I’ll lay you out.” 

Shocked at the agreement, Steve takes a moment to get his thoughts in order. The first thing he needs to do is figure out whatever science experiments Tony and Bruce have been running. After that’s all cleared up and he gets them to stop whatever it is, they can clear the air between them. Maybe even convince Tony to come back to the Avengers in time.

“What is it that you and Bruce have been working on?” Steve asks, trying to keep his tone friendly, hoping Tony will appreciate him cutting to the heart of the matter. 

The billionaire’s lips thin. “It’s really none of your business and all the science would go over your head anyway.” 

“Is it dangerous?” Steve presses. 

Tony stiffens slightly, then forcibly relaxes, his voice coming out flat. “...Oh I see. This is about Ultron.” 

“Can you blame us for being nervous?” the supersoldier defends, trying to keep his tone away from accusing despite the words, “Last time you and Bruce worked together you created a robot bent on human extinction.” 

“Ultron was barely our fault and it was proven by an international review board,” Tony refutes angrily, “I wouldn’t have opened the project back up if it weren’t for Maximoff messing with my head, and the program would never have come online and become corrupted without the Mind Stone’s influence. I didn’t just program a murder bot for fun, Cap, I was manipulated and my tech was hijacked by an alien artifact.”

Steve frowns. He hadn’t known that the incident had been looked into by outside parties. Still it doesn’t sound right to Steve, Wanda never got to Tony with her mind powers that he knows of. And Tony and Bruce were both messing with something they didn’t understand and should have just sent back to space. Besides, accident or not, Ultron was Tony’s program first.

Steve scowls. “So what, it’s not your fault at all and you can just absolve yourself of all guilt?” 

“No. Ultron was partially my fault and Bruce and I were wrong to try and design a global defense system without any oversight. I’ll never forgive myself for what happened, but you don’t get to lay all the blame at my feet,” Tony says, and although Steve can’t see his eyes he can feel the heat of his glare. 

The billionaire is obviously getting fed up, but Steve has to be sure. “And this new experiment won’t go rogue? You can guarantee that?”

“Yes! For fucks sake, it’s biomedical research Rogers!” Tony practically shouts.

Steve stays resolute. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It’s not dangerous, _which should be obvious because it’s medical research_ , and that’s all you need to know.” 

Steve switches tracks, seeing that he’s hit a wall. “What about the woman?” 

“Who?” Tony demands sounding absolutely fed up. 

“Sam said that he saw Happy come in with a civilian woman he didn’t recognize.” 

“Yeah, and?” Tony asks flippantly, “She’s a friend of the family.” 

“This is a top secret base for the Avengers, Tony, you can’t just let anyone you want in,” the supersoldier scolds, aghast. 

“You’ll find that I can let anyone I want into this compound because I still own it, Rogers. That aside the woman in question is far more trustworthy than any of you,” the billionaire snarks. 

Steve grimaces at the barb, although it’s not totally undeserved. “Tony-”

“No. Nuh-uh,” Tony cuts him off tersely, “I’ve entertained twenty questions enough today, and now I’m done. What exactly were you hoping to get out of this?” 

“I just… I want us, all of us, to be a team again Tony. I want us to make up and go back to the way things were,” Steve pleads. 

He finds himself missing Tony’s sharp tongue and quick wits. He misses the man’s grudging affection that he refused to verbalize but showed often enough. He misses all the little things, like the way Tony would spend movie nights picking apart the fake science, or how he would stumble upstairs in the middle of breakfast desperate for coffee after an all-nighter in the lab while the team fondly chided him. 

Steve didn’t even realize how much he missed Tony until that first morning in the Wakandan countryside, with all his team around him except for the familiar presence of one snarky billionaire. 

Tony lets out a snort of humorless laughter. “Well guess we’re at an impasse because _I_ don’t want things to go back to the way they were.”

Steve feels his stomach drop to his feet at the words. 

“You know, I’m actually happy now,” Tony continues, oblivious to Steve’s distress, “I’ve got the best damn fiancée in the world, time to work on all the projects I’ve been putting off for years, and a family that actually cares about me, all my issues and bullshit included.” 

“We care about you,” Steve implores, stung. 

Tony snorts, but there’s no warmth in the sound. “That’s news to me because you all had a real shit way of showing it. And you know what they say, actions speak louder than words and you took some drastic ones back in that HYDRA bunker.”

Steve flinches a little at that. He knows that the Civil War, no, _Siberia_ , damaged their camaraderie, but he didn’t think that Tony believes the team doesn't care about him. Does Tony think all that is irreparable? Enough that Tony Stark, the man who can fix almost anything, doesn’t even want to try to fix their friendships? 

“Now get this through your stubborn skull, Rogers,” Tony orders, “The only reason Rhodey, Bruce, and I are here is because the Council asked us to be, and as soon as you all sign those documents I’ll be back home in the city. The Avengers can count on Iron Man to be on their side when the world is in danger, but Tony Stark finally has some work-life boundaries and you all are decidedly in the work part of that equation.” 

Tony turns on his heel and strides to the elevator, irritation evident in his gait and Steve can only watch him go, still struck silent. Steve sinks down into one of the conference chairs, legs feeling weak. 

Sam and Nat say they need to wait for Tony to come to them, but that won’t work if he has no interest in coming to them. Waiting, Steve thinks, will get them nowhere with the billionaire. No, Steve just needs to prove to Tony that the team always has, and still does, care about him. Maybe then, Tony will start opening back up to them. Stop hiding things from them. 

No matter what reassurances Tony gave that what he’s working on isn’t dangerous, Steve just can’t believe it. Especially not with how Tony has clearly been isolating himself and obsessed with whatever experiments he’s running. Steve feels guilty for it, but even with the billionaire being convinced his involvement with Ultron coming online was minimal, Steve just can’t trust him collaborating on secret projects with Bruce again. 

Thoughts finally in some semblance of order, Steve stands and heads for the Avengers’ floor. The girls may have opted out of this mission, but Sam will have his back. 

Asking failed. It’s time to figure out what exactly Tony and Bruce are working on. 

***

Sam thinks it’s fair to say that he doesn’t know Tony Stark very well. 

Before Ultron and Sokovia, he had only met the man a handful of times. Sam got the impression that the guy was busy, and how could he not be? Being the owner and head of R&D of the biggest tech company in the world, working on Avengers tech and funding, and being a superhero in his own right would be enough to triple pack anyone’s day. Not to mention after Wanda was added to the group and Sam took on a more permanent position with the initiative, the billionaire had pulled away from the Avengers, very rarely going on missions and never joining them for any sort of team bonding. 

No, Sam would never claim to know Tony Stark. How could he when the most he’d talked to the man was for tech upgrades? Sam didn’t know Stark like Steve or Natasha did, and especially not like Colonel Rhodes or Potts do. So he can’t realistically say that he knows whether or not the billionaire might be creating something dangerous like Ultron again. 

The side of Sam that used to save battered psyches instead of the world says that Stark has gone through a lot of shit in just the past few years (let alone all the shit before that), and that the best thing to do is let Stark come to the team when he’s ready. That pushing him is just going to make everything worse, and that he pretty obviously wants nothing to do with them. 

But if Steve has a bad feeling about what Stark may be up to, Sam is more than willing to trust it. He doesn’t have the full story of Ultron, but Sam saw what happened when the billionaire’s technology got away from him and no one wants a repeat of that. So against the parts of him that say to leave well enough alone, he trusts Captain America, his best friend, to know what he’s doing. 

Sam’s EXO wings were of Stark’s own design back in the day, and since joining the Avengers, Sam has been treated to personal upgrades from the billionaire. Including the inclusion of a rudimentary AI, Redwing, in the form of a stealth drone. Sam’s not a natural at tech like Stark or Natasha but he’s fairly sure that with a little tweaking he can make it so even FRIDAY should overlook Redwing’s presence on Stark’s floor. 

He and Steve hash out the details of their plan on a morning jog. Cap had apparently failed to get more than vague information out of Stark yesterday, and this is their last resort. 

Sam will sneak Redwing onto Stark’s floor or lab the next time someone takes the elevator to either of those places. They’ll be able to use the drone’s video feeds to take a good look around and find out what Stark’s working on. 

Just as they’re about to return and put the plan into motion, Natasha finds them. 

“You’re planning on doing something. I’m telling you know whatever it is, it’s a bad idea. We should all just leave Tony alone like he wants, we’re in enough hot water,” the spy tells them, her eyes sharp. 

“We wouldn’t have to do anything if he’d just talk to us,” Cap says. 

“He did talk. To me,” Natasha tells them, her arms crossed, “I saw him in the biochem lab when I went down to visit Bruce. We spoke a bit and I invited him to team dinner, which he turned down.”

Steve scoffs. “Of course he did.” 

“He’s not ready to forgive us, Steve. Don’t do this,” the spy’s face is neutral, but her eyes are beseeching, “You’ll only make it worse. We’ve got a chance to make things right. It’ll take time, but we can at least work together again someday. Maybe regain some trust.” 

Despite himself, Sam can’t help but think that Natasha has a point. If Steve actually wants to try and mend his friendship with Stark, he’d do better to back off. 

“Why are you defending him so much Natasha?” Steve asks with narrowed eyes. 

“I let you and Barnes go because I thought it was the right thing to do. You were just trying to save your friend and you weren’t going to stop. That and I knew Ross was bad news,” the spy explains solemnly, “But now I can’t help but think I was wrong. _You_ fought the team and messed up a lot of lives in the process. You- _we_ lied to and hurt Tony when all he wanted to do was protect us and keep us together.”

Steve shakes his head looking disappointed. “I wasn’t going to sign a document as corrupt as the original Sokovia Accords. I had to stand up for what I believed in, even if Tony wanted to bow his head for once.” 

“He wasn’t bowing. He was trying to play the long game in our favor and we should have trusted that he knew what he was doing. One hand on the wheel, remember?” the spy refutes, jaw clenched, “Tony said it himself, he didn’t like the Accords as they were or Ross. Tony wanted to negotiate and amend the Sokovia Accords, and he needed all of us on board to do that. But you were too blinded by getting to Barnes at the time to care about what the world had to say.” 

“I do care, I just think the best hands are still our own.” 

Natasha sighs and hangs her head exasperated. “Steve, you proved they weren’t. You were compromised by Barnes’s involvement, and too preoccupied looking for him. You told Tony he was breaking up the Avengers, but it was _you_ that destroyed the team.”

Steve has nothing to say to that, and even Sam has trouble seeing fault in her arguments. Sam had seen what Barnes’ involvement had done to Steve. Even back during the SHIELD/HYDRA fiasco, the supersoldier had not been his cool and collected self. Sam, being a military man himself, should have probably said something to Steve about the fact that the supersoldier was clearly compromised when it came to the Winter Soldier (not to mention Peggy’s passing had just happened), and maybe Steve should’ve left the case to Sam and the others to handle. 

“I could tell Tony about what you’re about to do right now. But I won’t. This is your mistake to make, last chance for the kid from Brooklyn to grow up and not go charging in head first,” Natasha gives one last warning, before she turns on her heel and leaves with one last frustrated glare.

Sam winces at the insult to his friend and the glare. He sees what Natasha means about Steve just charging in recklessly at times, (that’s what made Romania such a shit show) but he’s only trying to do what he thinks is right. Steve’s bold strategies and willingness to take risks are what make him as good of a commander as he is in Sam’s opinion. 

If he’s choosing between trusting Steve or Stark, it’s a no brainer. Sure the Civil War was a shit show, and Steve was compromised as a leader, but now that Bucky is safely tucked away, Sam feels confident in following Steve’s orders again. The supersoldier is his best friend, the only friend he’s had since Riley, honestly. 

“If you’re sure about this Steve, you know I’ll always be your wingman. So, are we on or not?” Sam asks, giving his friend a steady look. 

Steve clenches his jaw, a determined light in his eyes. “We’re on.”

\---

Steve and Sam get their chance that very evening when Banner takes the elevator up to Tony’s floor and Redwing can sneak in along with him. The little drone hovers soundlessly and invisibly by the doctor’s side, the man taking no notice of it. Sam wasn’t worried about Redwing being detectable by the naked senses, though. The real test will be FRIDAY and all her cameras and sensors. 

The elevator door opens onto Stark’s floor and both Steve and Sam hold their breath as they watch through the holoscreen from the compound grounds. But no alarms trigger, and Stark’s AI doesn’t chime in with warnings, so Sam must have done enough to hide the drone from Stark’s tech. Steve gives him a congratulatory pat on the back and Sam grins.

Sam directs the drone to follow Banner through Stark’s plush living room (which looks normal enough aside from the oddly placed hammock) and down the hall where the doctor stops and knocks on a door. 

“Come on in, Brucie,” Stark calls from inside. 

Stark is sitting in a recliner next to a king size bed with thick blue covers, but the room itself grabs Sam’s attention more than the billionaire. 

It’s obviously not Stark’s room or a guest room like he had been expecting. No… It almost looks like a kid’s room. The walls are a pleasant blue and there are a few sci-fi posters hung up, along with packed book cases and a messy desk. There’s even a half finished Lego model on one of the nightstands. The whole thing has Sam nonplussed, but the fact that this unclassy room is on Tony fucking Stark’s floor is not the biggest shock.

No, that prize goes to the small unfamiliar form curled up under the bed covers. 

“Yo, that’s a kid,” Sam states dumbly, his jaw is slightly slack.

“Why would Tony have a kid on his floor, Sam? He’s terrified of kids. Said he doesn’t know how to interact with them,” Steve says, but he sounds unsure. 

Before Sam can respond to that, the two scientists start talking and both he and Steve turn their attention back to the screen.

“I’ve got the new and improved formula to try this time,” Banner says, pulling a capped plastic syringe out of his lab coat. 

“A new formula of what? And why would he bring it up there to show Tony?” Steve asks aloud. 

Sam shakes his head. Why wouldn’t Banner just call Stark down to the lab to show him what he’s working on? Steve said Stark told him they were doing biomedical research. Why bring the thing all the way up to this kid’s room instead of testing it in the lab on their synthetic models?

“You and Helen work fast,” Stark smiles easily at the man, an expression Sam hasn’t seen on his face lately. 

Banner grins a bit. “Well, we had the help of one of the smartest chemistry experts I’ve ever met.”

“If you plan to say that to the spiderling’s face, make sure FRIDAY is recording. I want to see how red he goes,” Stark snorts. 

“Who are they talking about?” Sam wonders. As far as he knows _Banner_ is the resident chemistry expert. 

“Spiderling…” Steve muses, brow pinched, “Do you think it’s that spider hero? The one Tony brought to Germany?”

Sam nods recalling the motormouth vigilante that fought with Tony’s side. “Could be. That dude was babbling science shit about my wings during our fight, he was definitely a nerd. You think he hangs out here?” 

“Maybe.”

“How’s he doing?” Banner’s question cuts them off from discussing the spider guy further. 

“Dead to the world,” Tony sighs, looking down at the boy in the bed, “Our time in the lab obviously did a number on him.” 

“I imagine,” the doctor sighs like he’s exasperated, “Alright, can you get him out of his little cocoon? Need his arm if we’re going to test this and you want him to be up for dinner.” 

Stark gently manhandles the sleeping kid (who doesn’t even twitch) onto his back and out from under the blankets so that Bruce can access an IV catheter in the crook of his arm. 

Now that the boy’s been untangled from his blankets Sam and Steve get a good look at him. He’s lean and gangly in a way that it’s obvious he’s probably somewhere between fourteen and seventeen. Which just so happens to match up with Stark’s old party days, Sam recalls. The wild dark hair, short stature, and nerd paraphernalia in the room all point in the same direction. 

Not to mention the fact that doesn’t-do-physical-contact-Stark is voluntarily touching the kid. And being exceedingly gentle with a sappy look on his face while he does. 

“Wait, what the hell? Are they testing the ‘new formula’ on him?” Steve exclaims, as they watch Banner clean the IV port with an alcohol swab and Sam is similarly thrown.

Not only does Stark have a kid (a son?) up on his floor, but said kid also has an intravenous catheter in his arm and is about to let Banner give him some kind of drug. Sam knows an IV would only be needed for semi-long term medical needs that require fluids or medicine. Which tells Sam the boy is likely pretty sick, making the pilot burn with shame and guilt. This must be why Stark won’t even give them the time of day, he’s worried about his sick son. 

“This dose should last longer right? Maybe fix the fatigue?” Stark asks Banner worriedly as the doctor injects the syringe he showed off earlier into the kid’s IV port. 

“It should but I don’t know for sure, Tony,” Banner tells him apologetically, “We’re kind of working with a sample size of one here. Not really conducive to the scientific method.” 

“Yeah,” Stark sighed, “FRI be a doll and let Karen put up his stats, would you?”

In response a holoscreen of what is likely the boy’s vitals pops up nearby for the two scientists to examine.

Sam does a double take. Those readings have to be wrong… 

The kid’s heartbeat and respiration rate shouldn’t be that low, even if he was in deep sleep. Hell, even Steve’s enhanced biology doesn’t produce vitals that low at rest. If one of Sam’s patient’s vitals were that slow, he’d be rushing them to medical. But Stark and Banner don’t seem alarmed at all. 

Steve seemed to have caught it too. “Those numbers can’t be right…” 

For the next ten minutes Banner and Stark simply watch the boy and his vitals, which Sam notices start to pick up a little, but not much. Steve and Sam meanwhile both sit with their thoughts on what they’ve seen. Steve looks especially deep in thought, his brow furrowing further with every minute that passes. 

“Everything looks good, no bad reaction to the new meds,” Banner finally announces, “He’s been improving steadily so, barring any setbacks, we should be done with his treatment in another two or three days.” 

Stark lets out a relieved sounding sigh. “Good. Thanks, Jolly Green.” 

“Just keep having FRIDAY and Karen send me the data so Helen and I can make sure he’s on track. We’ve been doing good so far,” the doctor says as he heads for the door. 

“Don’t jinx it,” Stark warns, “Trouble has ears and follows this kid, I’m telling you.”

Sam fumbles to have Redwing follow Banner out of the room and back down the elevator to safety, still slightly shocked at everything they’ve watched. Only a minute later, Redwing has returned to his side with a cheery beep and Sam lets out a relieved sigh. At least they didn’t get caught. 

Guilt and shock are thrumming through Sam’s veins in equal measure. Natsaha’s warnings ringing through his head. Although the Accords Council basically ordered them to be housed here, Tony didn’t have to let them and he didn’t need to play babysitter. Especially not when he’s looking after his sick child here too. 

Without any threat that Sam can see, this was a serious breach of trust and privacy. 

“Who… What was that?” Steve asks, breaking Sam from his thoughts, his face pale. 

“Looked pretty obvious to me. You saw that kid, Steve. A shrimpy white teenager with wild brown hair and a lot of nerdy hobbies? It’s not that hard to figure out. You know Stark used to sleep with _a lot_ of people. To me it looks like Stark’s playboy days have finally come back to haunt him. Aside from the resemblance, the kid’s age matches up too,” Sam explains, thinking that Steve might have missed most of Stark’s media documented sexcaspades. 

Steve just shakes his head, frowning. “Tony wouldn’t keep a kid from us… He would’ve said…”

“Clint hid his family from everyone too,” Sam reminds him, “I would think Stark would’ve had an even easier time squirreling his son away with all his tech and money. I don’t blame the guy, Iron Man’s kid would make an even better target than Hawkeye’s.”

“Then what the hell was with the IV, the lab talk, and the mystery drugs, Sam? You saw the boy’s vitals...they weren’t right. This whole thing is off,” the supersoldier tells him. 

“Yeah that was weird, but I dunno man, the kid could just be sick,” Sam reasons, “Sure Stark’s an ass most of the time, but he doesn’t strike me as the type to do science experiments on kids, let alone with Banner’s help. Stark put Ross’s ass in jail for that exact thing. What would be the point anyway?”

“You know Tony likes to test the limits of science, and he can convince Bruce to do almost anything if it’s for science. That’s how we ended up with Ultron. And Howard Stark helped make the first super soldier serum that created me and Bucky. Maybe Tony and Bruce are trying to recreate it now that Tony doesn’t want to be a part of our team anymore,” Steve theroizes, seeming almost manic. 

Sam furrows his brow. He knows Stark and Banner like to push the laws of nature, but the pilot doesn't believe they’d ever do anything intentionally harmful, like experiment with super soldier serum on children. Accusing Stark of something like that with so little evidence likely won’t go well with the billionaire’s team, and Sam is _pretty fucking sure_ that was his son they just spied on.

“What, like making his own supersoldier? Why would he need to? The Iron Man suits are on another level Steve, no offense.”

“I just can’t picture Tony having a son, Sam. He’s not really father material. And you heard them. Bruce and Tony are using untested drugs on this kid, whether he’s Tony’s or not,” Steve argues, his eyes solemn. 

“That was sketchy,” Sam concedes, “But Bruce also said Helen worked on it and she’s a world famous doctor with an MD. Do you really think she’d be okay with giving kids untested drugs unless there was a really good reason?”

His friend still looks doubtful but doesn’t say anything. 

“The kid might be really sick and you know that Tony would do anything he could to fix that sort of thing, especially if that _is_ his son. Wouldn’t you do the same?” Sam asks and Steve at least looks more conflicted. 

“Yeah, I would. But that’s not the point. This is the second civilian that we know of that Tony’s brought into the compound without telling us. Not to mention a huge secret,” Steve squares his shoulders, “Son or not, he needs to explain himself. Call a team meeting.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a dirty liar. This is not the last chapter (also holy cow over 15k hits, love you guys!). 
> 
> I was writing this as the last chapter and it just started getting soooooo long and I was like. Let’s just split it right down the middle. It’s easier for me and you guys get a new chapter earlier than if I tried to make it all one big thing. So next chapter will be the big confrontation (With Peter vs the Rogues) we’ve all been waiting for and for sure be the last one. And good news since I split it, It’s already like, more than halfway done. 
> 
> If you are wondering why updates are sort of all over the place it's because I recently obtained my first full-time salary big girl job (my parents' words not mine). And It’s a big change from both my very physical full time summer jobs and my part time out in the field mental health job I had until recently. (I also keep being distracted by the numerous Irondad and Spiderson Aus that I've been writing which you can totally ask me about on tumblr or here, I don't know which ones to write first!)
> 
> Steve and Sam's perspectives were super hard for me to write (Steve's more than Sam's). Trying to keep them as close to in character as I can while the Rogues still being the main source of conflict is difficult. But I did really enjoy writing the science bros doing lab time. As always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Next one should be out in hopefully a month or less.


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